Monkey Business Suspected in Loose Moose Taxidermy Attack!

Melissa Mango's Flickr

While the debate rages on over whether it was a moose or a caribou, another new twist has emerged in the case of the tumbling taxidermy that injured a woman at a Lower East Side restaurant in October. 32-year-old Raina Kumra made headlines yesterday when she filed a lawsuit against White Slab Palace, where a moose head crashed down on her during a party. To this day she suffers from chronic neck pain, anxiety, fatigue, dizziness and embarrassment. But now it seems the 150-pound moose head may have been tampered with before it fell!

An anonymous source has come forward to tell the Daily News that he witnessed one of the partygoers tugging on a balloon tied to the moosehead's antlers. "She was pulling on the balloon. I thought, 'That looks dangerous,'" says the News's source. "The girl [Kumra] was sitting right under it." But the unidentified witness admits he turned away and did not actually witness the crucial moment when Kumra fell in a hail of moose antlers.

If it's true that foul play brought the taxidermy down, it may make White Slab Palace less liable for damages. But until a Zapruder-esque video of the accident/assassination attempt surfaces, we'll have to rely on typically unreliable eyewitness accounts. Were you in attendance at that fateful party? Is White Slab Palace owner Annika Sundvik just a patsy? Did the taxidermy knock Kumra's head back, and to the left? There's just no way we're buying this whole "single moose theory."

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By John Del Signore in News on December 31, 2009 10:50 AM

Comments [rss]

silver76

Anything that heavy should be able to withstand a balloon string unless the balloon was made of lead.

just saying

Let this be a warning for anyone who would dare book a reservation at a restaurant with a name such as White Slab Palace.

raag_yaman

Jeez, people on the interweb sure are stupid! She is not suing for embarrasment. She is suing because she was injured and the management has been totally negligent in the case.

AnnaZed

From a legal point of view it doesn't matter if another patron (or even an employee) messed around with the thing before it fell. If it wasn't secured properly and it fell and injured someone, then the business establishment is liable. presumably they have insurance for that.

As for the suing for embarrassment, that's ridiculous (she should be embarrassed!).