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In
Danger of becoming Endangered
Honey
badger killed for catching chickens in Niassa Game Reserve, northern
Mozambique, 2003
 
An
adult female and her cub caught and killed in gin traps (steel jawed
leg-hold traps)
placed
near commercial beehives
STATUS
Honey
badgers are not listed on the International Red Data List (IUCN 2001) but
they are listed on Appendix III of CITES in Botswana and Ghana. A species
is included on Appendix III at the request of a Party that already
regulates trade in the species and that needs the cooperation of other
countries to prevent unsustainable or illegal exploitation (CITES 2004).
International trade in specimens of species listed in this Appendix is
allowed only on presentation of the appropriate permits or
certificates.
Honey
badger are
also listed as
Near Threatened in the most recent South African Red
Data List (2002). In the Cape provinces of South Africa, badgers are a schedule 2 protected wild
animal (Nature & Environmental Conservation Ordinance, 1974; a permit
is required to kill or move honey badger), but they
are essentially unprotected outside of game reserves and national parks in
other provinces of South Africa (Rowe-Rowe 1992). In the Western
Cape South Africa half of 82 commercial beekeepers surveyed admitted to
killing honey badgers despite their protected status (Begg 2001a). In
Morocco, honey badgers are protected by law and the species is considered
Near Threatened due to the non selective use of poison and traps. In Niger the honey badger is said to be
Endangered and in Saudi Arabia
they are considered to be rare. In India the honey badger is listed in
Schedule I, Part I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
Its
status in most parts of its extensive range (particularly West and Central
Africa) remains uncertain, but there is little doubt that the honey badger
is now absent from many areas where it previously occurred e.g. parts of
Morocco (F. Cuzin) and parts of Israel and populations may be becoming
increasingly fragmented throughout its range. Certainly in South
Africa, the honey badger is now thought to be absent from large portions
of the North West, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, southern Kwazulu Natal and areas
of the Northern and Eastern Cape provinces
Little information is available from
other areas. If you have any information, please contact
us with the details.
Badgers are particularly difficult to locate during conventional mammal
surveys and, as a result, only coarse estimates are available of their
distribution and abundance. Their relatively small size, frequently
solitary and nocturnal behaviour make them difficult to record even in
areas where they are well represented. In the southern Kalahari and Mana
Pools National Park conventional survey techniques (spotlight counts and day
transects) were poor indicators of honey badger density (pers. obs.). However, using these techniques Waser (1980) estimated honey
badger density in the Serengeti National Park (Tanzania) as <0.1
individuals per square kilometer and, after 106 hours (1419km) of night
driving in the Niokolo-Koba National Park (Senegal), Sillero-Zubiri &
Marino (1997) estimated the badger density to be 0.07 per hundred
kilometers (or 0.01 per hour). In the Hluhluwe and Umfolozi Game Reserves
(South Africa) Whateley & Brooks (1985) recorded only two sightings in
3381km of night counts. In addition, badgers are not often dazzled
by vehicle headlights or killed on roads (pers. obs.). Siegfried (1965)
recorded only 3 instances of badger road mortalities from a total 3,306
mammal casualties in the Cape Province. As could be expected 70% of all
these mammals killed were nocturnal species. Therefore,
the contrasting information supplied by beekeepers was considered to be a
possible means of re-examining the present distribution and conservation
status of badgers in South Africa.
THREATS
Apart
from man, the honey badger is considered the most destructive mammalian
predator of honeybees in Africa and conflict between beekeepers and the
honey badger has been recorded throughout their range.
They are also frequently inadvertently killed by the non-selective
use of poisons and gin traps that are used to kill other problem animals
of a similar size i.e. caracal Felis caracal and black-backed
jackal Canis mesomelas .
Outside of protected
areas the honey badger is also actively persecuted by small livestock
farmers, they are killed for traditional medicine and their pelts appear
for sale in traditional markets in South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi,
Swaziland and Zimbabwe
because of their
reputation for fearlessness and tenacity. They also appear on the bushmeat
trade in some countries although local hunters agree they don't make good eating
and are only eaten when other
more favoured bushmeat animals are no long available
Due
to their large space requirements, viable populations of honey badgers are
unlikely to be contained within the smaller protected areas. Their biological
features of a small litter size (1-2 cubs) and an extended period of
dependence on their mothers may make honey badgers
particularly vulnerable to local extinctions in unprotected areas where
there is ongoing persecution and conflict with beekeepers and
farmers. In addition their elusive nature means that honey
badger populations could easily reach critically low levels without nature
conservation authorities being aware of the problem.
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