How We Verify Our Stories

The six checks

1. 1

   A named person and an identified animal

   Every story starts with someone we can name — a diver, a fisherman, a bricklayer — and an animal we can identify. If the people are anonymous, the story stays unpublished.

2. 2

   A real place and year

   We pin the location and the year from the original reporting. Vague framing like "a few years ago, somewhere off the coast" is not good enough.

3. 3

   Species confirmed

   The animal is identified to species, not to whichever species makes the better headline. Where reports disagree, we say so on the page.

4. 4

   Outcome confirmed

   We only state what happened next if the sources state it. If a rescued animal's later fate is unknown, we write that it is unknown.

5. 5

   At least one reputable published source, linked

   Each story lists its sources with working links, so you can read the original reporting yourself rather than take our word for it.

6. 6

   Correct or withdraw

   If a claim turns out not to be supportable, we correct the story or take it down. We would rather have fewer stories than a single invented one.

What the labels mean

Spotted something wrong?

Please tell us. If you were part of a story, know the people involved, or have a source that contradicts ours, we want to hear it — corrections are part of the process, not an embarrassment. Join the newsletter below and reply to any issue, and it reaches the editorial team directly.

You can also read more about who we are on our about page.