Mo Salah: The Egyptian footballer weighs on the ranks of cats and dogs

Football star Mo Salah has spoken out against the plans to export roaming beasts to his homeland, his home country, Egypt, fearing that he will be killed. they are not used as food.

"Cats and dogs will not be exported anywhere, this will not happen and will not be able to happen," he tweeted, alongside images of his Siamese cat.

Animal rights advocates reacted angrily to this decision. Many called at the end of this practice.

Cats and stray dogs are prevalent in the streets of Egypt.

The battle began after last week, the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture had approved the export of about 4,000 cats and dogs abroad.

Last Wednesday, the Egyptian private newspaper al-Masry al-Youm announced that the ministry had started issuing health certificates to start the export process of some 2,400 cats and 1,600 dogs.

A day later, a spokesman for the ministry told the Egyptian TV station TenTV that the animals had been vaccinated against the diseases and that they would be flown in accordance with legal procedure.

The authorities did not explain in which countries they were sent nor for what purpose.

Attacker Salah of Liverpool and Egypt, who enjoys great popularity in his country and in the wider Middle East region, took part in the debate on Tuesday tweeting with the hashtag. No to animal rights violations ".

And many applauded his contribution online.

Some responded with pictures of their own pets, using the same hashtag:

But others argued that Egyptians had greater concerns, with one person suggesting: "Let's look at human rights first, then we can look at animal rights."

Meanwhile, some have questioned the point of view of those who eat meat, but have also joined the campaign against the export of animals:

Last month, the politician Margaret Azir caused a sensation by suggesting the authorities to fatten stray dogs and export them abroad in order to cope with the growing number of stray dogs on the streets. Egypt.

She told the Youm7 private website that in some places dogs were "as valuable as sheep".

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On Friday, the Egyptian authorities denied that the government itself is exporting animals – and said they only granted licenses for the controversial move.

Spokesman Hamed Abdel Dayem told al-Hadath al-Youm that the reports that animals were being transported to countries that would eat them were "baseless".

However, another MP, Nadia Henry, has already asked Parliament to draft a bill that would criminalize the export of dogs and cats.