Several days ago I wrote about a well-publicised story in which it was reported that more than 4000 cats and dogs were going to be exported from Egypt quite possibly to South Korea where they might have been brutally killed and then served up in restaurants. There was uproar from animal advocates.
Well, now, the Egyptian authorities in the form of spokesman for the Egyptian Agriculture Ministry have denied that there were plans to export cats and dogs from the country.
It would seem that this denial came after the intervention of a world-famous footballer, Mo Salah (Mohamed Salah Ghaly), who is Egyptian and is the best-known footballer from Egypt.
Fortunately for the cats of stray Egypt, he loves cats and has two Siamese cats. He has posed for a picture with his two cat companions in order to protest the export of cats from Egypt.
لن يتم تصدير القطط والكلاب لأي مكان.. هذا لن يحدث ولا يمكن أن يحدث #لا_لانتهاك_حقوق_الحيوانات pic.twitter.com/9YHozXnqf7
— Mohamed Salah (@MoSalah) November 26, 2018
On his Twitter account he said that “Cats and dogs will not be exported anywhere. That’s not going to happen.”
This must be a translation because he posts his tweets in Egyptian. There is nothing better than a celebrity fighting for cat welfare. The impact that they can make is far higher than anything that other people can achieve, in my opinion. Mo Salah has clout in Egypt and even dictators and their cronies have to take stock when he speaks.
I hope he does have real clout. It would do untold good for street cats in Egypt if he could throw his media weight behind the few organisations there who help street cats.
Good luck to Mo. I hope he succeeds in saving the maligned street cats & dogs of Egypt.