A decade after the shocking discovery of a bear cub carcass in Manhattan’s Central Park, the mystery of who dumped it there has finally been solved. The man taking responsibility is none other than presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Kennedy unleashed this latest scandal himself in a three-minute video posted to X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday. He explained how the dead bear ended up in his van and ultimately on a bicycle beneath a bush in New York City’s largest urban park.
Kennedy, an animal lover and former environmental lawyer, was driving upstate one morning to take people falconing in the Hudson Valley when a driver in front of him fatally hit a bear cub. He decided to pick up the bear to skin it and put the meat in his refrigerator. Unfortunately, he got sidetracked by a busy day of falconry and a dinner at Peter Luger Steak House in New York City.
Kennedy didn’t want to leave the bear in his car, so he came up with the idea to stage the bear in Central Park to make it look like it had been hit by a bike. He thought it would be amusing for whomever found it. The six-month-old, 44-pound cub was discovered by a dog walker in a wide-open part of the park near where thousands of people run and bike each day.
Law enforcement took the bear to Albany for analysis and determined it had been hit by a car outside the park. They also confiscated the bicycle to test for fingerprints. Kennedy admitted that his prints were all over the bike, drawing laughs from the room. The story eventually faded away, but almost 10 years later, Kennedy decided to come clean ahead of an anticipated New Yorker exposé.
The New Yorker piece situates the bear anecdote within a larger look at Kennedy’s past and motivations for running for president. A photo of Kennedy posing with his hands inside the bear’s mouth and an exaggerated grimace on his face was also included in the article. Kennedy made headlines during the Republican National Convention in July after a leaked call with former President Donald Trump captured Trump criticizing vaccines and appealing to Kennedy for support.
Kennedy has faced a financial drain in his fight to get onto state ballots and has seen his support dwindle in national polls. He has canceled multiple campaign appearances over the last month. Despite the scandal, Kennedy remains in the race and is determined to continue his presidential campaign.
