Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is facing fresh criticism after federal law enforcement confirmed an investigation into allegations that he decapitated a dead whale and transported the remains home two decades ago.
The controversy resurfaced this week after Kennedy raised the issue of offshore wind farms during Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, claiming they are responsible for killing 160 whales each year. The comments sparked backlash online, with many pointing to the irony of his past actions.
“Didn’t he decapitate a whale and take the head home with him?” one user asked on social media.
Another added, “We’ve gone from wiping out millions of birds to the whale population. It’s sad to watch ‘leaders’ who get their information from the deepest, craziest corners of social media.”
During the meeting, Kennedy argued, “Wind is the most expensive energy. They have killed 160 whales in the last two years. They’re wiping out the population. You are going to save the whales on the east coast because of this.”
The whale story, originally shared by Kennedy’s daughter Kathleen in a 2012 Town & Country interview, has gained renewed attention on social platforms. She recalled that at age six, her father heard about a whale that had washed ashore, retrieved a chainsaw, and removed its head. He then strapped it to the roof of their family’s minivan for a five-hour drive.
“Every time we accelerated on the highway, whale juice would pour into the windows of the car, and it was the rankest thing on the planet,” she recounted. “We all had plastic bags over our heads with mouth holes cut out, and people on the highway were giving us the finger, but that was just normal day-to-day stuff for us.”
On Monday, a spokesperson for the National Marine Fisheries Service confirmed that officials are investigating the incident but declined to share details, citing a policy against discussing ongoing cases. The agency, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, enforces federal laws such as the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act.
Kennedy later told Trump supporters in Glendale, Arizona, that he received a letter about the inquiry. “They were investigating me for collecting a whale specimen 20 years ago,” he said, without confirming or denying that he took the whale head. He argued the statute of limitations had expired and suggested—without evidence—that the probe was politically motivated due to his public support of President Trump.
Pressed by reporters afterward, Kennedy declined to elaborate, dismissing the matter as “gossipy nonsense.”
The whale controversy adds to a string of bizarre animal-related incidents linked to Kennedy. Just last month, he admitted to being behind a decade-old mystery in New York City in which a bear carcass was left in Central Park with a bicycle placed on top.
