A big surprise took place in an agricultural field in northern Israel, when D., a farmer who has lived in the area most of his life, received a photo from one of his workers who was in the field. The worker was unable to identify the animal in the photo.
D., who also couldn’t identify the animal, turned to a regional officer from the Israel Nature and Parks Authority for assistance. The officer helped identify the rare animal as a honey badger.
The last time a honey badger was seen in Israel was in August of the previous year, when the animal was spotted in the Mount Dov area by Israeli soldiers.
"The honey badger is the rarest predator in Israel," said Ezra Hadad, a ranger in the Green Patrol at the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. "The honey badger is currently facing a severe risk of extinction, and is actually on the verge of disappearing from the country. Over the past decades, entire populations have been wiped out from large areas in Israel, partly due to targeted harm from beekeepers who fought them with harsh means like poisoning and killing because of the damage they caused to hives. In recent decades, very few confirmed sightings have been reported, most of them in the south of the country, in the Negev and the Arava."
The Israel Nature and Parks Authority adds that the honey badger is a medium-sized predator, easily recognizable from other mammals due to its unique and eye-catching fur color - the upper half is grayish-white, and the lower half is black. It is known for being particularly resilient, with a reputation for fearlessness and an impressive ability to adapt to diverse conditions. The honey badger has a compact, muscular body, sharp claws, and strong jaws, making it an efficient hunter.
Despite its relatively small size, it excels in exceptional strength and agility, and it has been documented attacking much larger animals, including lions and hyenas. Its distinctive fur is easily recognizable: a prominent white stripe runs from its head to its tail, while the rest of its body is black. In Israel, its population is fragmented.
In the 1970s, four separate subpopulations of honey badgers were identified in Israel. These populations were found in the Judean foothills, from the Latrun area to the Lachish Valley, in the northeastern Upper Galilee, in the Hula Valley and Golan Heights, in the northern Arava, and around Hazeva.
Dr. Amit Dolev, an ecologist from the Northern District of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, noted, "The field worker was very fortunate to spot a honey badger in our region. This is an extremely rare and unusual sighting, not something you see every day. This is an animal that has always existed here in very small numbers, at the edge of its global range. Honey badgers are more common in Africa. We don’t know where this particular honey badger came from, but we’re very happy to see evidence of this special animal here with us. It’s important to remember that the honey badger is a protected wild animal, and one should not attempt to touch or approach it."
The honey badger is found throughout most parts of Africa, except for the central Sahara Desert. It also appears in Western Asia, Ethiopia, Somalia, Nigeria, and parts of southern Morocco, up to the Sahara borders. Honey badgers are found throughout the Middle East, including Israel and northern Syria, extending to Turkmenistan, southwestern Kazakhstan, and eastward to India and Nepal. In the broader range, honey badgers are rare in some areas.