How we report real experiences
When we write about what happened to a pet owner or what a provider did, we're reporting — not retelling. This page is the standard we hold that reporting to. It's also the answer to a fair question: why should you trust a website's account of someone else's loss?
Who writes this
Hallowed Paws publishes under a single editorial voice — there's no star byline, by design. Our standing isn't a credential or an industry title. It's method: we read the public record — court filings, prosecutors' charges, regulators' orders, published standards — and we did the original work behind our 118-provider cost study, our 50-state law review, and our record of fraud cases. The reporting is the qualification. You can check it; every load-bearing claim links to its source.
What we verify before we publish
- Every load-bearing fact traces to a primary source — a document, a dataset, a verbatim standard — linked so you can read it yourself. If we can't source it, we don't say it.
- A separate check, against the source. Our claims are verified field by field against the original — not just "is there a citation," but "does the citation actually say this."
- No invented people, quotes, or experiences. We never fabricate a customer, a testimonial, or a personal anecdote to make a point land. When we say "we read 200 filings," we read them.
How we name a business
We name a company critically only when a court, prosecutor, or regulator has put the matter on the record — and we attribute it to that document, with the date and a link. We report charges as allegations and say so; an accusation is not a conviction, and we label which is which. A bad online review or an angry forum post is not enough for us to name and shame anyone. This isn't legal caution for its own sake — it's the difference between reporting and rumor.
How we handle grief
Our criticism is aimed at systems, regulatory gaps, and proven bad actors — never at the bereaved. In our reporting today we work from the public record; we do not contact grieving owners to mine their stories. Where someone's identity isn't essential to understanding what happened, we leave it out. Grief is not content to be harvested, and we won't treat it that way.
Corrections
We get things wrong sometimes; when we do, we fix it in the open. We append and date corrections rather than quietly editing the record, and we update a case if its status changes — a charge dismissed, a conviction overturned. If you spot an error, tell us at editor@hallowedpaws.com and we'll look into it.
Who pays for this
You don't, and neither does the industry. No provider has paid for placement anywhere on this site, our reporting carries no advertising, and we never soften a finding to protect a relationship. We're built for the pet owner — not the industry — and the reporting is how we prove it, not just claim it.
Standards informed by the Society of Professional Journalists' code, the Dart Center's guidance on reporting trauma, and the Trust Project's transparency indicators.