WASHINGTON – An environmental group is urging authorities to investigate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a former independent presidential candidate, following the rediscovery of a 2012 interview where his daughter mentioned he used a chainsaw on a deceased whale.

In the Town & Country Magazine interview, she recounted how Kennedy secured the whale’s head with a bungee cord “to the roof of the family minivan for an exhausting five-hour drive back to Mount Kisco, New York.” She noted that the whale had washed up on Squaw Island in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, when she was just six years old.

“Every time we sped up on the highway, whale juice would leak into the car windows, and it was honestly the most disgusting smell ever,” Kick Kennedy explained.

The Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund has sent a letter to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), claiming that possessing any parts of an animal, living or deceased, is illegal under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act, as reported by YSL News.

“There are significant reasons why it is against the law for individuals to take or keep parts of any endangered species,” the organization stated in its letter.

“Crucially, essential research chances are lost when people remove wildlife carcasses and obstruct scientists’ work. This is especially true for marine mammals, which rank among the most challenging wildlife to study. In fact, some beaked whales are so elusive that scientists have only learned about them through those that have washed ashore,” they further explained.

The organization requested that NOAA officials require Kennedy to return “all illegally obtained wildlife that he may still have.”

“Considering Mr. Kennedy’s blatant disregard for the two most crucial marine conservation laws in the United States, we urge NOAA to consider all suitable civil and criminal actions as well,” they stated.

YSL News has reached out to Kennedy’s spokesperson for their response.