Good News for Kitties at the Hemingway House!!
I am SO HAPPY to read this!!!
Judge dismisses complaint between Hemingway home and USDA
Associated Press
MIAMI - A federal judge Monday dismissed a complaint in an ongoing dispute between the caretakers of Ernest Hemingway's Key West home and the U.S. Department of Agriculture over the six-toed cats that roam the property.
The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum in Key West has disputed the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services claim that the home is an "exhibitor" of cats and needs to have a USDA Animal Welfare License to continue caring for them. The caretakers of the home asked the U.S. District Court in Miami to intervene in July.
More than 50 cats descended from a multi-toed cat the novelist received as a gift in 1935 freely wander the grounds of the home, where Hemingway wrote "A Farewell to Arms" and "To Have and Have Not."
The agency has repeatedly denied a license for the Hemingway home under the Animal Welfare Act, which the home contends governs animals in commerce. The USDA has threatened to charge the home $200 per cat per day for violating the act, according to the complaint.
Telephone messages left after hours Monday at the Washington, D.C., office of the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the home's attorney, Cara Higgins, were not immediately returned.
Hubby called me and read this to me over the phone, and I had to Google and save it for posterity. This means no cages, and the cats can continue to roam freely on the grounds, as cats should be allowed to do. Touring the Hemingway House was one of the many highlights of the Key West trip. Would have been awful to have to cage those beautiful furr babies!!! So glad the judge must be a fellow animal lover...
Judge dismisses complaint between Hemingway home and USDA
Associated Press
MIAMI - A federal judge Monday dismissed a complaint in an ongoing dispute between the caretakers of Ernest Hemingway's Key West home and the U.S. Department of Agriculture over the six-toed cats that roam the property.
The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum in Key West has disputed the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services claim that the home is an "exhibitor" of cats and needs to have a USDA Animal Welfare License to continue caring for them. The caretakers of the home asked the U.S. District Court in Miami to intervene in July.
More than 50 cats descended from a multi-toed cat the novelist received as a gift in 1935 freely wander the grounds of the home, where Hemingway wrote "A Farewell to Arms" and "To Have and Have Not."
The agency has repeatedly denied a license for the Hemingway home under the Animal Welfare Act, which the home contends governs animals in commerce. The USDA has threatened to charge the home $200 per cat per day for violating the act, according to the complaint.
Telephone messages left after hours Monday at the Washington, D.C., office of the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the home's attorney, Cara Higgins, were not immediately returned.
Hubby called me and read this to me over the phone, and I had to Google and save it for posterity. This means no cages, and the cats can continue to roam freely on the grounds, as cats should be allowed to do. Touring the Hemingway House was one of the many highlights of the Key West trip. Would have been awful to have to cage those beautiful furr babies!!! So glad the judge must be a fellow animal lover...