Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Bear Story Is As Disturbing As It Is Implausible

Among the big political news stories of the week — Kamala Harris formally clinching the Democratic nomination; the selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate — was the bizarre tale of Robert F. Kennedy leaving a dead bear in New York City’s iconic Central Park, ending a decadelong local mystery.

As soon as it became clear to Kennedy that he would no longer be able to keep his illegal stunt a secret, the independent presidential candidate and conspiracy theorist went into damage control. He concocted a story that was clearly aimed at making his decision to dump the bear’s carcass more palatable to the general public.

But his explanation makes as little sense as the act itself.

Gordon Batcheller, who retired as New York state’s chief wildlife biologist in 2015 but spoke to HuffPost in his personal capacity, has followed the Kennedy bear cub story closely. He described Kennedy’s actions as perplexing, unlawful and wildly disrespectful of a wild animal.

“As a citizen, even as a biologist, looking at the whole scenario, the word ‘bizarre’ just leaps forward in my mind in terms of behavior of this individual,” Batcheller told HuffPost by phone on Tuesday. “The thought that somehow doing this prank would be amusing or something — just bizarre.”

As for Kennedy’s account of what happened, Batcheller said “it sounds to me like a 4-year-old who was meddling with mom’s freshly cooked pies, got caught and started fabricating some excuse about his dog and cat and little sister and everything else.”

“Bottom line, it’s wrong.”

Earlier this week, The New Yorker was on the cusp of reporting as part of a lengthy profile that in October 2014, Kennedy callously and illegally dumped the carcass of a young black bear in