[China's government and the WHO say the likeliest origin of the pandemic is natural transmission through wildlife. Yet little progress has been made in establishing a definitive natural pathway from a bat to a Wuhan market — or for any competing theory, for that matter — because of the Chinese government's refusal to grant scientists access.]
By Michael Standaert and Eva Dou
Nearby
are small farms that collectively housed hundreds of thousands of wild mammals
such as civets, ferret badgers and raccoon dogs before the pandemic, farm
licenses show — animals that scientists say can be intermediate hosts for
viruses to cross over from bats to humans.
The
World Health Organization has requested access to China's wildlife farming
areas such as Enshi, calling it a key step in the search for the origins of
the coronavirus. Beijing has denied the requests.
The
Washington Post made a rare trip in September to Enshi, six hours' drive west
of Wuhan, where the coronavirus was first detected.
A
reporter observed human traffic into Enshi caves, including domestic tourism,
spelunking and villagers replacing a drinking water pump inside a cave. Defunct
wildlife farms sat as close as one mile from the entrances.
Scientists
briefed on The Post's reporting said it documents a plausible pathway for how a
coronavirus could have spread from bats to other animals, then to Wuhan's
markets.
Asked
if bats, farmed animals and local residents were tested for the coronavirus in
Enshi, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said they could not
verify the specific situation at the moment, and said China banned the trade
and consumption of wild animals in February 2020. Enshi's forestry bureau did
not respond to faxed questions; two officials declined interview requests in
person.
[Inside
the Wuhan lab: French engineering, deadly viruses and a big mystery]
Western
Hubei is home to at least seven types of horseshoe bats, according to the
Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, a research institute under the Chinese
Academy of Sciences. One type, Rhinolophus affinis, has
been found farther south in China carrying a virus 96 percent
identical to SARS-CoV-2.
In
the rolling land near the caves, Enshi officials for years promoted wildlife
farming to alleviate poverty. Enshi accounted for 17 percent of Hubei wildlife
farms shut down in the pandemic, official announcements show. Authorities
estimated that the 290 shuttered Enshi farms had 450,000 to 780,000 animals.
China's
government and the WHO say the likeliest origin of the pandemic is natural
transmission through wildlife. Yet little progress has been made in establishing
a definitive natural pathway from a bat to a Wuhan market — or for any
competing theory, for that matter — because of the Chinese government's refusal
to grant scientists access.
"We
really need to find out more about what viruses are circulating in those
bats" in the Enshi caves, said Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist
at the University of Arizona. "That kind of proximity of farmed animals
and bats that could be carrying coronaviruses is exactly the kind of thing we
worry about."
Marc
Eloit, head of pathogen discovery at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, agrees
that much more sampling needs to be done in China, and specifically in these
karst areas.
Eloit
said he "would be very interested" to obtain samples from bats and
caves in Enshi, adding that gathering bat guano could be a start.
'Released
back into the woods'
Beijing
has been less than eager to find answers in Hubei, as it touts its own theory that the virus may
have originated overseas. One foreign scientist who worked for years with the
Wuhan Institute of Virology, and who spoke on the condition of anonymity to
discuss sensitive matters, said the institute's field research in bat caves has
been suspended since the pandemic began.
But
Chinese authorities had Enshi in their sights before the threat of covid-19 was
known.
A
clampdown on Enshi's wildlife trade at wet markets began on Dec. 23, 2019,
according to state media, eight days before China publicly acknowledged the new
virus. The head start in Enshi doesn't mean officials found something amiss: It
could have been preventive, as rumors emerged of market vendors falling
mysteriously ill in Wuhan. But it means evidence on Enshi's wildlife trade was
erased before the world was aware of the existence of a novel coronavirus.
Since
then, Beijing has rebuffed international calls for more details on supply
chains of live wildlife leading to Wuhan markets, even as local officials shut
down wildlife farms — possibly coming across some of the information the WHO
seeks. U.S. intelligence agencies told President Biden in August that the virus
was not a biological weapon, but that natural
transmission and a lab-related accident were possible origins.
During
the trip to Enshi, a reporter was followed by men in several cars who did not
identify themselves, but who would subsequently talk to interviewees. None of
the farm operators would say whether the animals had been tested for SARS-CoV-2
before being disposed of or released.
[China
slams U.S. intelligence report on origins of coronavirus pandemic]
The
Lichuan Juyuanxiang Special Breeding Cooperative in Enshi illustrates the
difficulties that the WHO would have in finding fresh evidence, even if granted
access. A two-story, concrete structure where the animals were previously kept
now stands empty, vines creeping up the side.
"They
were released back into the woods," said a man surnamed Yang at the
Lichuan Juyuanxiang farm, which called itself Hubei's largest civet farm.
"The government wouldn't allow us to raise them anymore."
Visits
to nearly a dozen other former wildlife farms in the area yielded similar
stories. Owners were either not home, denied raising animals listed on business
registrations, or said they stopped farming before the outbreak.
Yang,
who identified himself as the farm owner's uncle, said they had over 1,000
civets at the time of the outbreak, and that the farm was closed down by May
2020. His nephew, owner Yang Ancui, declined to talk when reached by phone.
Aside
from civets, the farm — which sat downhill from a large cave — was licensed for
breeding porcupines and wild boars.
Push
for investigation
Scientists
say SARS-CoV-2 probably originated in bats. How it got from a bat to a human is
unclear, with debate over two prevailing theories.
According
to the natural-transmission theory, the virus could have been passed directly
to a human who wandered into a cave — perhaps a villager, a hunter or a
scientist. It also could have been transmitted first to an intermediate host
like a civet, for instance, if the civet drank water contaminated with bat
feces.
A
second theory posits that the outbreak could have stemmed from a lab accident;
China's most advanced coronavirus research lab is based in Wuhan. A separate team at the Wuhan
Center for Disease Control and Prevention is known to have searched bat caves
in Hubei for new diseases in 2019. Chinese officials have denied a lab accident
occurred.
Edward
Holmes, a virologist and evolutionary biologist at the University of Sydney,
said that, to his knowledge, bat sampling had been done by scientists near to
but not inside Enshi, and that no coronaviruses were detected, but he added
that the sample sizes were too small.
"I'm
certain that SARS-CoV-2-like viruses will be found in China in places where you
find Rhinolophus bats," Holmes said.
Some
scientists are pushing for a more vigorous search for an intermediate host,
which, if found, would be strong evidence for natural transmission. Other
coronaviruses like SARS and MERS were carried by intermediate hosts: civets and
camels, respectively. Wuhan markets with early outbreaks had sold live wild
animals.
A
person with knowledge of the Wuhan market supply chains, who spoke on the
condition of anonymity to protect his contacts, told The Post that live animals
sold at markets in Wuhan were sourced from Hubei, particularly Enshi and
Xianning prefectures, as well as from Hunan and Jiangxi provinces.
[WHO
clarifies details of early covid patients in Wuhan after errors in virus report]
Chinese
authorities have deflected questions about the presence of live
wild animals at Wuhan markets before the outbreak. A Scientific Reports study in
June that catalogued illegal sales of live wildlife at the markets has not been
covered by China's state-run media. The two Chinese authors did not respond to
requests for comment about what they knew about those supply chains.
International
team members from the joint WHO-China study on coronavirus origins released in March have said they believe
live wildlife was removed from Wuhan markets before the official Jan. 1, 2020, closure of the Huanan market,
an early infection hot spot. Details in the WHO-China study pertaining to
wildlife supply chains at that market focused on chilled and frozen meat
products left behind when stall operators cleared out, not on live animals
traded there in preceding months.
'Rules
are really strict now'
Wildlife
captively bred in Enshi before the pandemic included potential intermediate
hosts such as palm civets, raccoon dogs, porcupines, wild boars, hedgehogs,
rodents, ferret badgers, ocelots, muntjac deer and flying squirrels, official
business registries show.
Huang
Shuang, a chicken vendor at Yuanmengzhuang market in Enshi city, recalled live
wildlife being sold in late 2019. "The rules are really strict now, so you
don't see any more wild animals," he said. "There were some around
here before, not a lot, but you could find some."
On
Dec. 23, 2019 — eight days before Wuhan announced a mysterious pneumonia — the
Enshi forestry bureau ordered a halt of live wildlife sales at wet markets in
the prefecture, the state-run Hubei Daily reported in February 2020.
In
January 2020, a month before China banned the trade and consumption of wild
animals nationwide, the Enshi forestry bureau announced that a goal for the
year was rectifying wildlife breeding and strengthening monitoring for wild
animal epidemics.
At
least six wet markets in Enshi city were closed by March 2020.
An
Enshi forestry bureau report in September of this year recounted enforcement
steps including wildlife farm shutdowns and cash rewards for tips on
violations.
Some
online notices about local wildlife farming became inaccessible after The Post
approached Enshi authorities.
Human
traffic
Humans
have long encountered bats at Tenglong Cave, according to local residents and
news reports. As early as 1988, the Belgian-Chinese Karst and Caves
Association reported "intensive utilisation" of the
cave by local residents, including digging out bat dung for fertilizer.
Tourists
and adventurers continue to visit. At the entrance to Tenglong's lower cave,
where the Qing River surges toward the Yangtze River, local spelunkers geared
up on a recent day, fastening helmets, snaking ropes over their shoulders,
packing waterproof bags.
A
mile down the road sits Changyan Farm, a small operation with blue and silver
corrugated metal roofs that had been licensed to raise civets, porcupines and
wild boar. The deserted farm and dilapidated house across the road showed no
signs of recent use. A restaurant and hotel behind the property was closed and
the caretaker declined to discuss the farm.
"The
forestry officials came by early around the Lunar New Year [2020]," said a
neighbor, who would not give her name out of fear of official retribution.
"They closed everything down on that farm. I'm not sure what animals they
had at the time or what they did with them."
Dou
reported from Seoul. Pei Lin Wu and Lily Kuo in Taipei contributed to this
report.
Read more
Inside
the Wuhan lab: French engineering, deadly viruses and a big mystery
China
slams U.S. intelligence report on origins of coronavirus pandemic
WHO
clarifies details of early covid patients in Wuhan after errors in virus report
