Hemingway Home agrees to cat rules

KEY WEST, Fla., Sept. 26 (UPI) -- An official for the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum in Key West, Fla., says the site will follow federal regulations regarding its 46 free-roaming cats.

Hemingway Home attorney Cara Higgins said after a five-year legal battle with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the memorial site has agreed to capitulate to the department's demands and follow the regulations for a federal exhibitor's license, The Miami Herald said Friday.

"We still contend we are not an exhibitor,'' Higgins said. "It's not a zoo or circus. The cats are not lions or tigers or animals that came from other countries. They are not made to do tricks.''

The federal department targeted the Hemingway Home in 2003 after receiving a complaint about the well-being of the dozens of cats living on the property. The cats are thought to have descended from the late writer's six-toed cat, Snowball.

The Herald said under the federal license, the museum will be required to keep the cats on its property at all times, maintain veterinary guidelines for the felines and undergo a department review once a year.