The Day is retracting the June 11 commentary that was critical of the decision by the Mystic Aquarium to import beluga whales from Canada. The commentary was submitted by a purported animal rights activist and scientist. We sought to verify its authenticity by contacting the reported author, but it appears that we were deceived in that effort. It has been removed from theday.com website. The opinion section does not print anonymous letters or commentaries or those written under pseudonyms, only those submitted with authentic author names.

As editor, I should have done a better job authenticating authorship. Lesson learned. Going forward, we plan to make better use of search engines for verification, particularly when not familiar with the writer.

Paul Choiniere

Editorial Page Editor