Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had everyone thinking the same thing after he shared a photo on Xon Sunday after a "starling rescue" at Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C.
The bird in the photo appears to be a European starling, a species widely regarded as invasive in North America. Kennedy did not elaborate on the circumstances of the rescue in his post, and the Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment.
Officials with the agency overseeing the airport also said they had no further information regarding how the bird was captured.
You can see his post and the photo below.
@RobertKennedyJr/X
But everyone is concerned for the bird given Kennedy's past treatment of animals.
A couple of years ago, Kennedy's daughter, Kathleen Alexandra "Kick" Kennedy, told Town & Country Magazine how her father once cut off a beached whale's head when she was 6—before proceeding to drive five hours home with the head strapped to the roof of the family's car.
When she was 6, her father heard that a whale had washed ashore on Squaw Island in Hyannis Port in Massachusetts. Indulging his fascination with studying animal skulls and skeletons, Kennedy decapitated the whale with a chainsaw and strapped the head to the car, then spent five hours driving it back to their home.
She recalled:
“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. 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.”
Notably, her father's actions may have violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), which was enacted by President Richard Nixon on October 21, 1972.
The MMPA aims to protect marine mammal populations from declining to levels that would compromise their role in their ecosystems. It prohibits the "take" of marine mammals, which includes hunting, harassing, capturing, collecting, or killing them within U.S. waters. Additionally, the MMPA forbids the import and export of marine mammals and their parts or products without a permit.
But that story is all the more troubling given Kennedy also admitted that he once found a dead bear cub on the road and then bizarrely placed it in New York City's Central Park to make it look like it had been hit by a bicycle.
Kennedy revealed to MAGA actor Roseanne Barr that he and some friends were responsible for dumping the bear cub after finding it dead. He said "people were drinking with me who thought [it] was a good idea" to stage an accident. He claimed the idea came to him at the time because he was running late for another engagement.
Kennedy's admission was published to his personal X account in a dig at The New Yorker, saying the story "stayed dead for a decade" before it came to the attention of the publication, which did publish an article that revisited the bear incident.
Kennedy's act may have violated state law, which carries a fine of up to $250. However, the statute of limitations for this law expired after one year, according to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC). This agency led the 2014 investigation into how the bear cub carcass ended up in Central Park.
The agency said that it “led the 2014 investigation and forensic analysis into the Central Park bear cub and concluded the bear died from blunt-force trauma consistent with a high-speed collision.” It said the investigation closed later that year due to “a lack of sufficient evidence to determine if violations occurred."
So, given all of that, people had thoughts and concerns.
Can someone please step in for the sake of that bird?
Please and thank you.
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
@aricchen/X
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
@hydemia411/Bluesky
