Claws out in Florida Keys over Hemingway cats

[sasquatch]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070717/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_usa_hemingway_cats;_ylt=Ao5H3JdxiUut3Ctlrb64MWjtiBIF
KEY WEST, Florida (Reuters) - A game of cat and mouse is under way between the U.S. government and Florida's Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum over the fate of dozens of felines roaming the former home of the Nobel Prize-winning author.

The claws are out over whether the 47 cats that live on the grounds where Hemingway wrote "To Have and Have Not" should be caged or even allowed to remain on the lush subtropical property, one of the Florida Keys' major tourist attractions.

Around half are six-toed, or polydactyl.

:popcorn:

[cwydro]

1. much ado

about nothing. Still going on...always some tempest in a teapot here. Not unlike DU, lol.

[LynneSin]

2. What they should be doing is neutering most of those cats

I think a few should always be on the property the bulk of them should be neutered to keep the population down

[cwydro]

3. I completely agree.

[yellowdogintexas]

8. Most of them ARE neutered. Only a select few are allowed to

breed (those carrying the polydactyl gene); usually they will have 1 or 2 whole females and maybe 1 whole male. The idea is to keep the gene pool alive, as these cats are descended from Ernest's cats. Once a female has bred once, maybe twice, she is also spayed. They used to adopt these kittens out, but no longer do this. It is a wonderful pleasure to visit this lovely old home with the spacious walled garden full of rotten spoiled cats.





this one was lounging at the ticket booth

"Marilyn Monroe"



Under those plants is the Kitty Cemetery, the stones have their names on them.

[Shakespeare]

4. If the reps from Florida can't legislate some kind of exception for this, they're al idiots.

Of course, this IS Florida we're talking about.

Those cats are as much a part of Key West and its history as Hemingway's house is.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

5. Again? I thought they resolved this...

For the cost of a trial, they could spay/neuter/release, and let them be.

[LSK]

6. why the fuck would anyone want them caged???

:wtf:

[JVS]

7. Didn't he used to do unspeakable things with those cats?