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Another ludicrous waste of taxpayer dollars

Posted: Jan 3, 2013

I just can't believe, with all the problems in this country, that the Dept. of Agriculture is wasting money and time on Hemmingway's babies. They have it better than most of the people in this country. What kind of ding dongs reside in D.C.?

Excerpt of article here and link to the whole article at the bottom.

The museum’s nine-year bid to keep the cats beyond the reach of the Department of Agriculture ended in failure this month. The United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled that the agency has the power to regulate the cats under the Animal Welfare Act, which applies to zoo and traveling circus animals, because the museum uses them in advertisements, sells cat-related merchandise online and makes them available to paying tourists.

In other words, the cats are a living, breathing exhibit and require a federal license.

“The most ludicrous part of the whole thing is that if we were really dealing with the health and welfare of the cats, this would have never been an issue,” said Michael A. Marowski, the great-nephew of the woman who bought the Hemingway house in 1961, the year Hemingway died, and opened it as a museum in 1964.

“These cats are so well taken care of,” he said, “but because there is a book, and this book tells us that exhibited animals need to be kept this way, we have been put through this.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/23/us/cats-at-hemingway-museum-draw-a-legal-battle.html?_r=0

;

I've been there. They're definitely part of it, but don't - worry about the evil government. A little

[ In Reply To ..]
public airing in the N.Y. Times, not to mention the Miami Herald, etc., and the people whose job is to apply the law get permission from up the ladder to interpret it a sensible way instead. :)

As for the imperfections of this world, where you gonna find a better one that has Key West and 6-toed cats in it?

Did you read the full article? - backwards typist

[ In Reply To ..]

just in case you missed it:

The agency concluded that the museum needed to follow federal regulations on exhibiting animals. But the museum argued that the cats are born and bred at the house, that they seldom wander beyond the grounds and that it is Mr. Hemingway’s legacy — not the cats — that serve as the main attraction.

But the agency disagreed. It sent in an animal behavioral specialist to index the cats and analyze the situation. Undercover agents were then sent in 2005 and 2006 to observe the cats and surreptitiously photograph their movements. One photo shows a gray cat sitting on the pavement. It carries the caption: “Picture of six-toed cat taken in restaurant/bar at end of Whalton Lane and Duval. May or may not be a Hemingway Home and Museum cat.”

“It’s silliness; it just got insane,” Ms. Higgins said. “This is what your tax dollars are paying for. The agents are coming down here on vacation, going to bars and taking pictures of cats.”

At one point, the agency recommended a night watchman for the cats. It later threatened to confiscate them. A federal judge in the case even led an impromptu field trip to the museum; federal marshals cleared a path of tourists for the suit-wearing contingent. The legal back-and-forth filled six boxes.

There has never been a problem after all these years. Hemminway's place is not a zoo and they don't exhibit animals. Those animals have lived there forever. I still find it ridiculous. There are so many other important and vital investigations they should be doing, but no...they have to harrass the museum.

Just in case you missed reading this part (and after only 1 person complained in 2003):

"The agency concluded that the museum needed to follow federal regulations on exhibiting animals. But the museum argued that the cats are born and bred at the house, that they seldom wander beyond the grounds and that it is Mr. Hemingway’s legacy — not the cats — that serve as the main attraction.

Have you priced legal fees lately? Apparently they have - lots of money to indulge instead of just having

[ In Reply To ..]
a clerk obtain the license. Difference between you and me is that I know the government is OUR government, made up of people just like us. Which means I expect a certain amount of silliness like this. Clerks are applying the laws. That's what they're supposed to do. It's not their job to pick and choose.

Me, I had a building inspector tell me we couldn't do something in the house we were building. I'd read the code and it didn't cover it. He apparently had just assumed we couldn't because no one ever had. Gross negligence and abuse of power! I pointed out the code to him and his boss, and we built what we wanted, the end. And if they'd decided we could do it if we forked out another $50 for a license, we wouldn't have taken it to County Commissioner, much less tried to make it to the Supreme Court. Silly blowhard nonsense.

This kind of crud is going on all over the country every day, just doesn't hit the N.Y. Times.

"the vast majority are spayed and neutered" - grits

[ In Reply To ..]
The animal-welfare volunteer in me says that if they were *all* spayed and neutered, this issue would cease to exist after a natural, healthy lifespan. The money they're spending to regulate these cats could be better spent funding spay/neuter or TNR programs for less-fortunate cats.

Sure it could. If only HUD had written the law to exclude - this group on the tip of Florida. :) nm

[ In Reply To ..]
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