Feds to bring in (Hemingway) Cat ';whisperer';

Considering PJK%26#39;s claim of no cats on property during Hemingway%26#39;s tenure in Key West, this is pretty funny....and sad at the same time, what a silly waste of money.

Feds call in Hemingway cat whispurrer

BY TIMOTHY O%26#39;HARA

Citizen Staff

The battle over the welfare of the Hemingway cats has reached a point where the U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to hire a cat behaviorist to assess the mental well-being of the much beloved six-toed felines at the museum. The brouhaha also has prompted two local government agencies to weigh in on the issue.

The Monroe County Commission earlier this month voted against a USDA order to keep the cats caged at the Ernest Hemingway Home %26amp; Museum. Now the Key West City Commission on Tuesday will vote on a proposal to allow the museum to keep more than four cats.

The city code says ';no person may keep more than four domestic animals on any premise.'; The code also allows the City Commission to provide for exceptions to the requirement ';for premises upon which are kept domestic animals of historical, social or tourism significance.';

';The family of polydactyl cats that live on the property are an integral part of the history and ambiance of the Hemingway House,'; the proposed resolution states. ';The cats reside on the property just as the cats did in the time of Hemingway himself. They are not on exhibition in the manner of circus animals. ... The City Commission finds that family of polydactyl Hemingway cats are indeed animals of historic, social and tourism significance.';

A drawn-out legal war has waged for years about the cats and whether they should be allowed to wander the famous author%26#39;s former compound on Whitehead Street.

Debra Schultz, former vice president of the local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and a former volunteer at the Hemingway landmark, filed a complaint with the USDA in 2003. She claimed the museum was violating the Animal Welfare Act.

The museum refused to cage all the cats, which have lived there since 1961, and instead installed fencing above a brick wall enclosing the museum grounds to keep them in at night.

The USDA also has ordered the museum to reduce the number of cats, museum attorney Cara Higgins said. There are about 50 resident cats, some of them as much as 19 years old.

';They have told us that even if we have one cat, it needs to be in a cage,'; Higgins said. ';We don%26#39;t think that is in the best interest of the cats.';

The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has been called to assess the situation, and members of the group support the museum%26#39;s policy of keeping the cats free range, Higgins said.

Both sides were supposed to go before a judge in July, but the hearing as been postponed so the two sides can work out an agreement. The USDA will send a cat behaviorist to assess the felines on July 23.

Feds to bring in (Hemingway) Cat ';whisperer';

Just leave the F______n cats alone.

Feds to bring in (Hemingway) Cat ';whisperer';

The bureaucrats at USDA obviously don%26#39;t have anything better to do. Those cats are the best cared for animals on Key West. This is a huge waste of taxpayer dollars. grrrrrrrrrr.

Thanks so much for the update. Please keep us posted. I know it%26#39;s weird, but one of the things that I look forward to is seeing all the cats at the museum. I don%26#39;t know when we%26#39;ll be able to come to KW because hubby recently got a new job and we%26#39;re not sure if we will be able to go on a vacation this year or not so I would really appreciate you updating the info on the cats whenever you find out anything new. I%26#39;am hoping they%26#39;re all still there when we do get to come. Anyway again thanks so much for the update :-)

If the ordinance of no more than 4 domestic animals on a premises includes ';party animals'; there goes the tourist trade !!

I love all the Key West Cats - its a cat%26#39;s island ya know. Just do a search in Amazon for ';Key West cats'; and see how many books mention the all the cats. They give the island some of its charm (I%26#39;m not getting into the abundance of cats - just their charm).

Hopefully the commission can win this legal battle - seeing how important it is to the residents and the visitors.

Note: Wonder how the SPCA keeps all their cats on their one premise? Hmmmm?

kwbts, hire a very wet cow

fish