Manager of Hemingway House in Key West & 9 employees staying to care for house & cats [View all]

[highplainsdem]

https://www.inquisitr.com/4483346/the-hemingway-home-and-cats-in-key-west-are-in-the-path-of-hurricane-irma/

The Hemingway House and Museum in Key West, Florida is in the direct path of Hurricane Irma, but the manager or the historical site, Jacqui Sands says that she is planning to stay put and do what she can to care for the estate and that family of fifty-five cats that call it home. Sands says she has an obligation to the Hemingway historical site and the cats.

“If I didn’t have to, I wouldn’t stay. My kids told me to get the hell out. But I have an obligation to take care of the building and the cats.”

Jacqui Sands is the manager and caretaker of the site that Ernest Hemingway called home on Key West. The cats are also an unusual collection as they are polydactyl, meaning they have six or seven toes on one foot. Sands won’t be alone caring for the Hemingway House and Hemingway cats, as nine employees are staying with her. All are working right now to prepare the Key West property as well as they can for the approaching Hurricane Irma.

“They couldn’t leave because either they don’t have a car or couldn’t find a flight out of here. I think we are going to be fine.”

The Hemingway House, built in 1851, is limestone in the French Colonial style, has withstood many hurricanes, and luckily it sits at the highest point of the island and is sixteen feet above sea level.

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Editing to add more info from the Houston Chronicle:

http://m.chron.com/news/nation-world/nation/article/Cats-Ernest-Hemingway-home-Key-West-Irma-Hurricane-12180112.php

The six-toed cats of the Hemingway Home Museum will be free to come and go between the hurricane-proof buildings as Irma sweeps across the islands. While some may be concerned for that cats' safety, the museum's executive director Dave Gonazlez said the felines are quite adept at surviving storms that hit Key West.

"Cats know naturally when to go. As soon as the barometric pressure drops, they come in," Gonzalez told Chron.com. "They know before humans do when it's time to get in."

Gonzalez noted the Hemingway home has never lost a cat to a hurricane.

The author's former home serves as a museum where polydactyl cats - six toes - roam freely. Some of the cats are said to be descendants of Hemingway's own six-toed cat.