When the massive research dog breeding facility Envigo in Virginia was shut down in 2022 due to numerous animal welfare violations, over 4,000 beagles were set free and adopted out in what has become the largest dog rescue in U.S. history. Sadly, these beagles were not given names in Envigo—they were given ear tattoos as puppies to identify them—much like a barcode on a piece of inventory.

During the rescue process, the over 4,000 beagles were split up among 160 different animal shelters across the nation, leaving many adopters to wonder: did my beagle’s brothers and sisters also make it out alive? And if so, where are they now? Michael Taylor, founder of Finding Connections: Envigo Beagles, reveals how he has managed to connect Envigo beagle families by cracking the code of the dogs’ ear tattoos given by Envigo. Up until now, the ear tattoos were secret codes, but that has all changed, and the availability of this information is proving to be profound.