That said, when it comes to animal protection, Egypt still has a long way to go. In a 2014 World Animal Protection study, we were given an overall ranking of F, with G being the lowest possible ranking. We scored particularly badly on protecting animals in captivity and enforcing animal welfare standards. We also scored pretty bad on recognizing animal sentience, but we won’t shed too many tears for that yet. A small but vocal activist movement has recently sought to draw attention to the often cramped, overheated and dirty conditions of animals kept in pet shops, aiming to popularize the global hashtag #adoptdontshop in Egypt. Their success in changing conditions within the shops themselves has been limited, however. Clubs and compounds, meanwhile, have been known to conduct mass poisoning campaigns to limit numbers of street dogs and cats. And unconfirmed reports late last year that ‘independent exporters’ were exporting strays to Asian countries where they might be consumed as food created a general furore.