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I got matching tattoos with my dog, it's a great conversation starter

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She’s got his number.

An animal rights activist went viral on TikTok after revealing her new and unusual tattoo — matching the one found on her pet’s ear.

Sam McGraw’s precious rescue pup Ted came stamped with a serial number — a sad souvenir from his time in the murky world of animal testing.

The dog lover shared she’d been contemplating getting a tattoo to represent her animal rights advocacy and finally decided on Ted’s mark from a past life.

“I spend like 99% of my day advocating against animal testing,” she said.

“I just feel like this tattoo just makes sense and it’s a great conversation starter to educate people who ask me what the heck my tattoo means.”

McGraw took her followers along as she went to the tattoo parlor.

“OK, so we’re going to go small and we have his number and we’re going to get it on my leg,” she explained.

McGraw then proudly shows off her new ink, zooming in for the big reveal.

Sam McGraw went viral on TikTok revealing that she got matching tattoos with her beagle Ted.
McGraw explained that her dog has a serial number tattooed in his ear from when he was in animal testing. Instagram/sammcgraww
The animal rights activist hopes that the permanent mark will inspire conversations about ending animal testing. Instagram/sammcgraww

In her Instagram caption she explained that the permanent mark is “a tribute to the animals suffering in testing and of course to [her] Ted for helping change the world.”

Tattooing or piercing an animal was made illegal in New York in 2014, though some animal rights advocates support small, minimally invasive markings to aid with tracking.

McGraw noted that the tattoo ink she chose for herself was vegan and not tested on animals.

The video quickly went viral on TikTok, amassing 5.2 million views, as people flooded the comments with support for McGraw.

Several commenters shared that they have similar matching tattoos with their rescue pets.

McGraw runs the popular TikTok and Instagram accounts “Sam & Ted the Beagle” where she spreads awareness about animal testing and shares her work fighting to end the cruel process.

According to PETA, more than 110 million animals are killed in the US because of animal testing every year.

A Pew Research Center poll found that 52% of American adults oppose the use of animals in scientific research, but the practice continues to persist in certain industries and companies.

Last month marked the 10-year anniversary of the first major push to end animal testing in the cosmetics industry when the European Union and Israel became the world’s first markets to ban the practice.

New York state officially joined the movement in December, becoming the 10th state to ban the sale of cosmetics tested on animals after Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a measure into law.

The New York Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Act went into effect at the beginning of the year.

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