Friday Catblogging: Cat fight pits government against Hemingway museum

From Florida comes news of a regulatory battle between the federal government and the Hemingway museum:

A popular tourist attraction has lost another round in the legal battle over who is in charge of the slinky creatures with nine lives and six toes roaming its grounds.The

11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Friday ruled that the government does have the power to regulate the dozens of cats that live at the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum in Key West, Fla. — a notion the attraction has fought for years.

The museum declined to comment about the court decision.

Some 250,000 visitors flock to the site each year to experience the house where the famed American writer lived from 1931 to 1938 and see the polydactyl six-toed felines whose company he enjoyed.

The cats deserve proper care, but they should be getting that care without federal intervention. Litigation like this – at a federal circuit court – is evidence (in part) of the parties’ failure to balance their interests against the cost of a continuing dispute. A simple written promise of care should have avoided all this, without federal litigation.

Here’s more about the six-toed cats:

Via Cat fight pits government against Hemingway museum – TODAY Travel.