Hemingway's Cats Keep Purrfect Home

by Jarrett Martineau | September 25, 2008 at 05:31 pm

1103 views | 17 Recommendations | 12 comments

Writer Ernest Hemingway's cats, all 50 descendants of his beloved pet 'Snowball', will be able to remain at the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum and freely roam the one-acre property in the Florida Keys.

They had previously been threatened with being caged or removed after the U.S. Department of Agriculture insisted that the museum must install a proper enclosure to keep the animals.

The museum has since cooperated and, happily, the Hemingway cats will get to stay put.

The famed six-toed cats at Ernest Hemingway's island home aren't going anywhere.

The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum announced Thursday it reached an agreement with the federal government that lets the 50 or so cats continue roaming the grounds, ending a five-year battle that could have resulted in them being removed or caged.

The cats descend from a cat named "Snowball" given to the novelist in 1935 and freely wander the grounds of the Spanish colonial house. All the cats carry the gene for six toes, but not all show the trait.

The home is where the Nobel prize-winning author wrote "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "To Have and Have Not" and is one of the most popular visitor attractions in the Florida Keys.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed the agreement. It had threatened to fine the museum $200 per day per cat -- about $10,000 -- saying it didn't have the proper animal exhibition license and couldn't qualify for one, primarily because the animals weren't enclosed. The museum has installed a fence to keep the animals on the one-acre property.

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mbaumgartner

at 18:02 on September 25th, 2008

This is a back-door attempt to get into the "cute animals" channel isn't it?

jordan

at 06:40 on September 27th, 2008

Yeah.

rumana husain

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 02:29 on September 26th, 2008

Jarrett Martineau, I like this story. It's good stuff. blessed cats! most humans don't get this lucky.

Jay in SC

at 06:06 on September 27th, 2008

My favorite is Zane, the gray cat. The Hemingway museum takes good care of the cats. They get plenty of petting and attention from the cat lovers among the tourists. Maybe if we're really really good in this life we get to come back as one of Ernie's cats. -Jay

Jay in SC has contributed a photo to this story.

RareVictorian

at 06:14 on September 27th, 2008

Hemingway House polydactyl (latin for "many digits") cat

RareVictorian has contributed a photo to this story.

dunkelberg

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 06:36 on September 27th, 2008

Cats ... it had to be cats.

Rhonda J Mangus

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 07:02 on September 27th, 2008

Jarrett Martineau, I like this story. It's good stuff.

michelley

at 07:40 on September 27th, 2008

Interesting story you've got here!

...I saw the six-toed cats at the Hemingway house in December 2006. The guide said six-toed cats were prized on ships because they are better rat-catchers than regular five-toed ones. Pretty cool huh? (:

michelley has contributed a photo to this story.