Hemingway cats survive without a scratch
MIAMI: Despite the devastation Hurricane Irma brought to the Florida Keys islands, a colony of six-toed cats descended from a pet owned by Ernest Hemingway has survived without a scratch.
Stern orders to evacuate and the desperate pleas of the legendary writer’s granddaughter weren’t enough to budge the caretakers of the historic house, who decided to rely on the building’s thick limestone walls and ride out the storm with their 54 feline friends.
“We took them inside that fortress with us, and had 10 employees stay here on site,” Dave Gonzales, curator of the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum, on Key West island, said.
As the hurricane approached, many grew worried and urged the staff to reconsider their decision.
“Ultimately it’s just a house. Save the cats. Get all the cats in the car and take off!” actress Mariel Hemingway, Ernest’s granddaughter, urged in a video posted to the website TMZ last Friday.
Jacque Sands, the site’s general manager, did not. Instead, she and the others reinforced the windows of the colonial-style home, which Hemingway bought in 1931 and where he wrote A Farewell to Arms, and waited it out.
“The cats seemed to be more aware sooner of the storm coming in.
“In fact, when we started to round up the cats to take them inside, some of them actually ran inside, knowing it was time to take shelter,” said Gonzales.
The animals are descendants of a six-toed cat named “Snow White” given to Hemingway by a ship’s captain, according to the museum.