Conflict between beekeepers and honey badgers 

Mellivora capensis, with reference to their conservation status 

and distribution in South Africa"

Keith Begg 2001

Supported by: The Carnivore Conservation Group of the Endangered Wildlife Trust

Summary & Introduction 

Summary 

Until recently the honey badger (Mellivora capensis), a “red data” species, has remained one of South Africa’s least studied carnivores. Their conservation status and distribution have remained largely unknown due to their solitary and secretive nature. Hence, the recent escalation of honey badger damage to apiaries resulting in their heavy persecution over the past decade by beekeepers, is of grave concern to conservationists.

This report sets out to document the significance of the conflict both from the point of view of the beekeeping industry and honey badger conservation.

During the course of the study 82 beekeepers were interviewed regarding this conflict. This included 50 beekeepers maintaining more than 24 000 hives in the Western Cape. Of the Western Cape beekeeper sample, 82% acknowledged that they experienced problems with badgers and 50% of these beekeepers admitted to killing badgers at some time, although all were aware of the legal protection afforded to this vulnerable species. While 78% of the beekeepers had undertaken some form of hive protection, 22% continued to kill badgers and other non-target species. These badgers were killed despite the high annual costs involved and the availability of cost effective, long-term solutions.

Conventional domestic beehives can be, and have been, cost effectively protected from honey badger depredation for decades. Simple procedures for protecting hives are discussed and recommendations made for their wider use within both beekeeping and farming communities. In some cases beekeepers that had protected their hives actually expressed satisfaction that badgers were visiting their apiaries, but were unable to cause any damage. On occasions when a beehive was damaged, the beekeeper took responsibility and acknowledged that the job had not been well done, or that a hive was in particularly poor condition. Often the less commercially successful beekeepers simply refused to accept that their colleagues had found viable and most importantly cheaper alternatives to killing badgers. Fortunately many beekeepers have made commendable efforts to protect their beehives and it is hoped that peer pressure from within the beekeeping industry will influence those members that continue to kill badgers.

The report suggests that official pressure should also be placed on the beekeeping industry to utilize environmentally responsible practices and all apiaries should be adequately protected when situated proximal to habitats conducive to the support of honey badgers. Only 30% of National Parks and 28% of the Western Cape’s Provincial Nature Reserves may currently support viable populations of honey badgers. In the central region of South Africa the species appears to exist in very low numbers. Consequently, the population of badgers that currently exists in the coastal lowlands of the Western Cape is a vitally important refuge for this species in South Africa.

Nature conservation authorities need to be made aware of the significance of the honey badger / beekeeper conflict. Due to the large areas required to sustain viable honey badger populations, it is essential that beekeepers in the communities surrounding protected areas be informed of protective measures and that their apiaries are randomly checked. Unfortunately, as long as gin traps are readily available in retail outlets their incorrect and inhumane use will continue.

It is concluded that beekeepers are a significant threat to the conservation of honey badgers (particularly in the Western Cape) and badgers are being needlessly persecuted in a most inhumane way.

 Introduction

 a) Motivation

 Following requests for information on honey badgers published in local magazines (Begg & Begg 2000 a, b, c & e), two independent reports were received of badgers being killed by beekeepers in the Western Cape. It was reported that, despite their legal protection, between one to two hundred badgers were being killed each year by South African beekeepers. Nature conservation authorities were contacted in this regard but, in the most part, were unaware of the conflict or its extent.

 A few beekeepers voiced the opinion that preventing honey badgers from raiding beehives was not economically viable and that they were so common in the Western Cape’s coastal lowlands that the area could be considered overpopulated. They maintained that badgers should be declared a problem animal and in extreme cases, beekeepers should be compensated for the damage they caused. Some beekeepers claimed to be losing more than R100 000 in damage annually, directly attributable to honey badgers.  Conversely, many reserve managers and conservationists regarded the badger as “rare” and their presence was seldom recorded in the very same areas where beekeepers are experiencing serious problems. Not surprisingly, reserve managers asked how an animal that appeared to be so rare could be causing such a major problem for beekeepers?

In 1985 reports from two Beekeeping Associations whose members were experiencing problems with badgers prompted the Mammal Research Institute (Skinner, 1985) to initiate a project aimed at addressing some of the very same issues dealt with in the current report. Unfortunately, after publishing a request for information in the South African Bee Journal, nothing came of this early initiative and the few responses received were based on hearsay  (Skinner pers. comm.).

In addition to raiding apiaries, honey badgers are also widely blamed for depredations on small domestic stock (Smithers 1986), are killed for traditional medicine and for use as protective charms or as charms for hunting dogs (Cunningham & Zondi 1991). Their pelts are sometimes sold to taxidermists (pers. obs.) and appear for sale in traditional markets in Swaziland and Zimbabwe (Monadjem 1998 and pers. obs.). It is commonly thought that there have been population declines with local extinctions in areas where badgers are persecuted (Comrie-Grieg 1985). Smithers (1983) states that honey badgers are “relentlessly destroyed in the Northern Cape Province by the use of gin traps, hunting by various means and the laying of poisonous baits”.

 At present honey badgers are officially listed as “vulnerable” (i.e. the species may become endangered if the casual factors for their decline continue) in the South African Red Data book (Smithers 1986) and they appear on Appendix III of the CITES agreement (Schouter 1992). In the Cape provinces badgers are a schedule 2 protected wild animal (Anon 1974) but they are essentially unprotected outside of game reserves and national parks in other provinces (Rowe-Rowe 1992). They are thought to be absent from large portions of the North West, Free State, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, southern Kwazulu Natal and areas of the northern and eastern Cape provinces (Rowe-Rowe 1992; Skinner & Smithers 1990; Smithers 1986; Rautenbach 1982; Coetzee 1977; Pringle 1977).

In December 1999 a three and a half year field study of honey badgers was completed in the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park (Begg et. al in prep.). This study provided the first detailed knowledge of badger behaviour in the wild and results suggested that honey badgers might be particularly vulnerable to high levels of persecution. Honey badgers utilised unusually large areas and due to their small litter size and long time to independence, had a slow recruitment rate into the population.  The small size of many of South Africa’s protected areas suggest that they may be inadequate in conserving viable populations if neighbouring areas do not co-operate with their conservation.

Objectives

The goal of this study was to assess the significance of the conflict between honey badgers and beekeepers in South Africa and to investigate the historic and current distribution and conservation status of this species.

 The objectives of this survey were to:

• Re-examine the historic and current distribution and conservation status of badgers in South Africa.

• Determine the approximate numbers of badgers being exterminated by beekeepers in South Africa and identify areas where badgers are coming into direct conflict with beekeepers.

• Evaluate potential methods for protecting apiaries from badger depredations.

•  Assess the level of threat posed by honey badgers to the South African beekeeping industry and evaluate the economic impact of badger damage.