And Liverpool footballer – and animal lover – Mo Salah is one of those who has voiced his concern at the plan, posting a picture of himself on social media together with his beloved cats. The plan would involve 4,100 animals being taken abroad, with no details about their final destination. Egyptian animal rights activists have launched an online campaign in response to the news.
Using the hashtag “No to violating animal rights” and “Against exporting dogs”, they have called on the government to scrap the plan, which was first proposed by a member of the Egyptian parliament last month.
Salah took to Twitter to voice his outrage, saying: “Cats and dogs will not be exported anywhere.
“This won’t happen and can’t happen.”
He accompanied his message with a photograph of his two birman cats.
Stray cats and dogs are widespread in Egypt, and reports suggesting the country’s agriculture ministry had given the green light the project began to surface last week.
Subsequent newspaper reports suggested health certificates were being issued for the export of some 2,400 cats and 1,700 dogs.
An agriculture ministry spokesman said the animals had been vaccinated against disease and would be exported in line with legal procedures.
Officials have denied the government itself was responsible for sending the animals abroad, rather insisting the authorities were simply granting licences to allow others to export them.
Neither have they revealed where they will be going or what would happen when they get there – but campaigners fear they could end up in countries where they could be used as food.
In July, Express.co.uk reported about the horrific Yulin dog festival in China, during which thousands of dogs are slaughtered and eaten over the course of the fortnight-long event.
Dog meat is also widely eaten in South Korea.
Meanwhile one MP is pushing for a bill to criminalise such exports.
Government spokesman Hamed Abdel Dayem said reports that the strays would be sent to countries where they could be eaten were “baseless”.
He added: “I thought that the news about exporting cats and dogs to countries that eat them was nothing more than a surreal, absurd, disgusting proposal that no one would pay attention to.
“It surprises us beyond imagination.”
Pro-government talk show host Amr Adeeb called on the government to stop the exports “out of mercy” for animals.
He said: “I would just like to ask an economic question: How much revenue would these dogs and cats exported to Asian countries bring to Egypt?
“Egypt is a merciful country, a religious country. We don’t need this.”