Honey badgers are remarkable, highly intelligent mustelids facing increasing pressure from human-wildlife conflict, trapping, and the exotic pet trade. Their welfare is poorly documented but the evidence base is growing.
Honey badgers are among the most cognitively capable mustelids, showing tool use, problem-solving, and persistent escape behaviour that indicates high motivation for movement and exploration. Their welfare in any confined or restricted situation is compromised rapidly. As bycatch in trapping programmes targeting other species, honey badgers suffer injuries disproportionate to their population size because they actively resist capture and work to free themselves — often causing severe self-inflicted wounds. In the exotic pet trade, their needs cannot be met in domestic settings: they require kilometres of daily ranging, complex foraging, and minimal human contact. Welfare improvements depend on better bycatch reporting systems, reformed trap standards, and strengthened exotic species trade restrictions.