The Badger Vigil last month was a wonderful and inspiring event. Around 50 people, carrying lanterns and wearing black and white gathered at dusk to remember the badgers and mourn the wanton destruction of their home. We covered the gates at the entrance to the sett with black and white ribbons, one for everyone who signed this petition. Thank you for being with us in spirit. This is to share an amateur video of the memorial. http://youtu.be/a7Q4x3RVWbM We were delighted to welcome Dominic Dyer Chief Executive of the Badger Trust and Policy Advisor for Care for the Wild, a leading international wildlife charity. The Badger Trust has now promised to fight the indiscriminate and unnecessary destruction of important wildlife habitats by housing developers that is being encouraged by the current UK government. In Kidlington, a very active, important Badger sett was destroyed to build a single luxury home for a property developer. Natural England's failure to 'protect' our protected species is in the spotlight. Licences to destroy badger setts are very easily obtained. Natural England works to facilitate ‘sustainable development’. There is no effective public scrutiny or accountability mechanism. Sett interference work is almost never monitored to prevent abuse. Its thanks to your support and the publicity from this petition that Natural England visited this sett before granting the licence. They had to make no fewer than four ‘compliance’ visits to check for irregularities. Mechanical diggers were used to dig trenches for the fencing within inches of active holes; work continued into the breeding season; and the badgers reactivated an annex sett at the site entrance. Finally, we learned they sent someone to observe the sett closure on 12 December. We think we captured their ecologist on camera, holding a shovel and helping dig. So the Kidlington sett was bulldozed to destruction with all the trappings of legality that Natural England can provide. The 'Sustainable Development Licencing team' say they do not want to see illegal development work. Perhaps that's why they invoked an ‘exceptional circumstances’ clause to allow the work to continue well into the breeding season. We will learn more via Freedom of Information. Our badgers were made to disappear completely for a time. Now the daft stubborn animals are trying to come back. As Dominic said at the Vigil, this fight is not over yet.