Cat Fight Breaks Out at Hemingway’s Key West Home

Travel Blog • Michael Yessis • 07.31.06 | 11:26 AM ET

The United States Department of Agriculture has sued The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum in Key West, Florida, claiming that Hemingway’s famous six-toed cats that roam the grounds need to be licensed. According to a story in the Guardian, “The US department of agriculture wants to fine the museum’s owners up to $200 (£107) a day for ‘exhibiting’ the animals without a licence, according to a lawsuit filed in Miami, but the trustees insist that tourists pay to see the house, of which the cats are merely residents.” The cats are allegedly descendents of Snow White, who was given to Hemingway by a ship’s captain in 1935. “About half of the Hemingway cats are polydactyl, or mitten cats, meaning they have extra toes on their front or back paws,” writes the Guardian’s Richard Luscombe. “Often named after actors, artists and philosophers, current popular residents include Archibald MacLeish, Pablo Picasso and Simone de Beauvoir.”