Moose Takes Nose Dive into Diner

January 4th, 2010. By AbiK

When was the last time you stepped into a place that used taxidermy as art? It actually hasn’t been that long for me—just last week in fact at Thomas Edison’s house in West Orange, NJ. But before that, it was a college-aged roadtrip to a rinky-dink bar in the backwoods of Amish country—the sort of place loaded with baseball caps, beards, camouflage attire—and Red White & Blue on tap. And more animal heads on the walls than patrons on barstools—one assumes, even on a good night. 

And that’s the interesting thing about taxidermy—it’s equally high-end or low-brow—and, it’s pretty polarizing to boot. 

But now it’s the center of a NYC personal injury lawsuit. Not taxidermy in general, but one moose head in particular—or as has been reported in the NY Daily News, a caribou head. 

It seems that Raina Kumra was dining under the aforementioned head on October 4^th when she came head-to-head (forgive the pun) with it. Lucky for her it wasn’t antler-to-head. Be that as it may, she’s since sued the eatery, White Slab Palace, which is located at Delancey and Allen in NYC. What she’s suing for is an “unspecified amount”; what she’s suing for is, according to the suit, that she’s “lost cognitive skills and suffered chronic neck pain, fatigue, dizzy spells and anxiety from mounting medical expenses.” 

I can only imagine that Ms. Kumra was a tad bit embarrassed in the aftermath of the moose (er, caribou) lunging at her. And let’s face it, with a reported weight of 150 lbs. and an antler span of over 3 feet, well, it must’ve felt like getting clobbered by a few bags falling out of the overhead bin on a crowded flight. Ouch. 

There have been a couple of follow-ups in the news since word of the lawsuit hit. One—and you’ve got to love this—is from a fellow patron at the restaurant that night who had the wherewithal to take pictures immediately ex post facto. As he’s quoted in the News as stating, “”I took the pictures because I thought she might need them later,” said the witness, explaining he figured the mishap would lead to a lawsuit”.” Right…

But he also states that another “partygoer” had been tugging on a balloon that was tied to the caribou’s antlers. If true, bet she’s feeling pretty much like a wet blanket on an otherwise enjoyable night out. Party on, babe.

And of course, there’s PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). You can pretty much bank on the fact that if there’s an animal involved, PETA’s involvement can’t be far off. And so it is with this one. PETA may be going for the ultimate coup here though—on New Year’s Eve, they offered the National Restaurant Association (must be something in those initials…”NRA”…) members—all 380,000 of them—cardboard animal heads (or plastic inflatable ones) if they “ditch dead décor and go friendly faux”. It’s a perfect angle for PETA—pro-animal and pro eco-consciousness, at least for the cardboard versions, with nary a hint at those old-school shock and awe tactics of spray paint on furs.

Can’t say what the uptake will be on PETA’s offer, and I fear that in some establishments, the appearance of a cardboard replica, hoisted in what could be misconstrued as a mockery of taxidermy, could meet with the appearance of a few Bic lighters hoisted in protest.

Regardless, it isn’t every day that a moose head (caribou dammit!) falls on someone’s head in a restaurant, so I’m sure the foodie world will be watching this one. And as Cindy Adams would say, “Only in New York, kids, only in New York”.  

Tags: moose head, Raina Kumra, restaurant

This was posted on Monday, January 4th, 2010 at 1:53 pm and is filed under Personal Injury . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.