Naguib Sawiris has put Egypt’s stray-dog debate back at the center of public life, proposing that the country stop killing the animals and instead collect, treat, export and sell them abroad. The billionaire businessman posted the idea on social media after a video showed stray dogs sheltering at the entrance of a residential building.

The proposal landed in a country already grappling with a large stray animal population and rising concern over dog bites, rabies and public safety. Official figures cited by Egyptian media say more than 1.2 million animal bite and scratch cases were recorded between January and September 2025, a number that helps explain why the issue has moved from local complaint to national argument.

Sawiris, described as Africa’s sixth richest person, said Egypt should create a national project to round up stray dogs, provide medical treatment and then sell and export them to places where people actually want to raise them, rather than relying on random culling and allowing disease to spread. The line was striking not only because it came from one of Egypt’s best-known business figures, but because it reframed a long-running public-health problem as something the country might also turn into a trade.

Animal-rights advocates have pushed in a different direction, arguing that sterilisation and vaccination programmes offer a more humane and sustainable answer. For years, local administrations have faced criticism over culling campaigns used to reduce stray-dog numbers, and Sawiris’s suggestion lands in the middle of that dispute rather than above it. It also comes as Egypt is already examining the possibility of exporting stray dogs, with parliament discussing regulated export proposals and referring the matter to a scientific committee.

That is where the gap now sits. Officials from the Veterinary Services Authority have reportedly said they do not object in principle to exports if international veterinary and animal-health standards are met, but neither the collection system nor the treatment, certification and export process has been explained at scale. Sawiris has opened the argument; the next step is whether Egypt can build a policy that satisfies public safety concerns without returning to mass culling.