KEY WEST, Florida (AP) -- City officials have sided with Ernest Hemingway's former home and its celebrated six-toed felines in its cat fight with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Patches, a descendant of Ernest Hemingway's six-toed cats, is on the prowl in Key West, Florida.
The Key West City Commission exempted the home from a city law prohibiting more than four domestic animals per household.
About 50 cats live there.
The house has been locked in a dispute with the USDA, which claims the museum is an "exhibitor" of cats and needs a special license, a claim the home disputes.
The new ordinance reads in part, "The cats reside on the property just as the cats did in the time of Hemingway himself. They are not on exhibition in the manner of circus animals. ... The City Commission finds that family of polydactyl Hemingway cats are indeed animals of historic, social and tourism significance."
It also states that the cats are "an integral part of the history and ambiance of the Hemingway House."
A USDA spokesman did not return messages left late Sunday.
The cats are descendants of a six-toed cat given as a gift to the writer in 1935. All carry the gene for six toes, though not all display the trait.
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Hemingway's Cats
Gertrude
Santiago
Cuba Darling
DiMaggio
Fishy
Hail Mary
Fat Spencer
Bobby J
Pretty Pablo
Jordan
El Sordo
Gitano
Agustin
Love Bait
Bell
Ezra
Scotty
Zelda
Perkins
Lady Brett
Sunny
Nicky A
Barney
Bobby C
Campbell Cutie
Pedro
Romero
Frances
Trip to Spain
Wounded Willy
Pampered Pamplona
Pamplo
Hey Jake
Princeton
Mippipopolous
Prentiss
Madame Duzinell
Woolsey
Krum
Belmonte
Girones
Edna
Dr. Valentini
Nurse Catherine
Mary
Kraut
Tough Boy
Shotgun
Ketchum
Mister 62
