We just thought we'd point out that blocking the entrance to a badger sett is more than just breaching The Protection of Badgers Act 1992 on a technicality; it's brutal, and here's why. For foxes, stopping up the setts prevents them from taking refuge from fox-hounds. Paragraph 9.23 of The Government's Inquiry Into Hunting With Dogs reads... 'We also recognise that, if hunts were not permitted to stop up badger setts, foxes would be more likely to go to ground there and would have to be left.' For badgers, stopping up their setts means they can perish within whilst trying to escape, or become pinned in the soil; it's difficult for them to dig out, even if they are otherwise powerful diggers. Appendix 7 of The National Federation of Badger Groups 2002 report (The Effects on Badgers of Hunting With Dogs - link at the end) shows how this can happen; for one example, read the following account from Leicestershire... 'Alternatively, the badger may be physically crushed by the soil, especially following rain. An example of this was observed in Leicestershire in February 1995, where a badger was found trapped by the waist in a sett entrance which had been blocked by the local fox hunt. Persistent heavy rain for five days after the sett was blocked caused the soil to mass together and compact around the badger which was attempting to dig out of the sett. The badger was removed from the compacted soil, and, due to its condition, was euthanased by a veterinary surgeon. Post mortem examination revealed that the badger had a ruptured spleen and a distended bladder, and it was estimated that the badger had been trapped for two to three days.' This is the reality of sett blocking, the harm caused & the real intent behind it. Share the petition and help ensure Rutland County Council don't support it. Notes... The Burns Inquiry 2000 in full... http://tinyurl.com/jlubx3v The Effects On Badgers Of Hunting With Dogs 2002 in full... http://tinyurl.com/hblusam