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Honey Badgers are used as bushmeat and in traditional medicine, but mostly they are directly persecuted (through the use of, for example, steel-jawed traps and poisons) by apiculturists and small livestock farmers throughout their range. They are also indirectly killed by non-selective control programmes targeting other species, such as jackals (Canis spp.) and Caracal (Caracal caracal; Begg et al. 2013). There is evidence to suggest they have gone locally extinct in many areas through poisoning (C. Begg and K. Begg pers. obs. 2006). Although there is little apiculture in areas of North Africa where the species occurs (except near the Lower Draa area, in Morocco), they are persecuted there (trapping, poisoning; K. de Smet and F. Cuzin pers. comm. 2007).

Honey Badger is found in many protected areas throughout its range, including the Kgalagadi N. P., Kruger N. P., Niassa National R. and, in Kazakhstan, the Ustyurt Reserve. It is legally protected in many countries, including the Middle Asian countries of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan and the Mediterranean countries of Israel, Morocco and Algeria. Commercial hive damage from Honey Badgers can be simply and effectively reduced (26% to 1%) by securing bee hives 1 m or more above the ground on a stand or trestle (Begg and Begg 2002), thereby minimising conflicts between Honey Badgers and apiculturists. The populations of Botswana and Ghana are listed on CITES Appendix III.