Posted on 07/29/2006 9:06:18 AM PDT by FairOpinion
The caretakers of Ernest Hemingway's Key West home want a federal judge to intervene in their dispute with the U.S. Department of Agriculture over the six-toed cats that roam the property.
More than 50 descendants of a multi-toed cat the novelist received as a gift in 1935 wander the grounds of the home, where Hemingway lived for more than 10 years.
The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum disputes the USDA's claim that it is an "exhibitor" of cats and needs to have a USDA Animal Welfare License, according to a complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Miami.
"What they're comparing the Hemingway house to is a circus or a zoo because there are cats on the premises," Cara Higgins, the home's attorney, said Friday. "This is not a traveling circus. These cats have been on the premises forever."
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.
"We're asking the judge to let us know whether this act applies to the cats, and if so why that is if the animals are not in commerce," Higgins said. "If it has something to do with the number of cats, how many do we have to get rid of to be in compliance with the act?"
Agency inspectors who have repeatedly visited the property since October 2003 have never indicated any concerns about the welfare of the cats.
But they have said a 6-foot-high, brick-and-mortar fence Hemingway built around the property in 1937 did not sufficiently contain the 53 cats, which should be caged, according to the complaint.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Kitty ping and government insanity.
Key West Meow ping
And there is a six foot brick and mortar fence around the property, which the cats couldn't really jump over.
The government involvement is sheer insanity.
Another example of how a law for protection of "commercial animals" from abuse is being turned into an intent for the government to abuse the cats.
Those cats don't bother anyone, are happy and the government wants them to be caged "for their own good".
""We don't know why the USDA got involved in this," she said."
Well let me enlighten you, dear: an occasional high profile case, no matter how stupid the premise, is good for keeping the budget increases coming. Think Waco.
Cage the cats?! That's ridiculous. My cats are all strictly housecats but they have an entire house to roam. How is it welfare for the cats to keep them cooped up in cages?
If the USDA has so much time on their hands I wish they would do something about the stinkin' chickens.
A six-toed cat . . . now THERE's something y'all don't have one of!
What a crock.Our government dollars and bureaucrats at work.
I visited the place 10 years ago. The cats were not in any distress. The unusual people who ran the place however were a different story.
Stuff the cats and you wouldn't have to worry about a wall,
or a government agency.
Six toes?
6 toes? On which foot? Oh,,,a 24 toed cat?
Nobody but me thinks 50+ cats are excessive? Are they kept in at night or do they roam and do the annoying things that cats do in the neighboring yards and airspace?
I've had cats which would not be slowed down by a six foot stone fence.
It is a pretty good sized piece of property. Most of the cats must hide. I did not see 50. But they all seem to have their places and seemed content. There is a cemetary for the ones that have passed. He really must have loved his cats.
I have one 6 toed cat and one 7 toed...
The 7 toed cat looks like he's wearing a couple of catcher's mits...And when he gets a mouse, the mouse stays got..,.
Blooming boozer,sure. Flaming liberal? I don't think so unless you think hunting, fishing and being masculine, at least as a man, defines a liberal.
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