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In search for coronavirus origins, Hubei caves and wildlife farms draw new scrutiny

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October 11, 2021 at 4:00 a.m. EDT
An entrance to the Tenglong Cave system in Enshi prefecture in China’s Hubei province. Tourists are not allowed to enter through this entrance, though local villagers can access the caves here to pump out water. Just a mile away is Changyan Farm, which was licensed to raise civets and porcupine before the pandemic. (Michael Standaert for The Washington Post)

ENSHI, China — Hundreds of caves are spread throughout the mountains of Enshi prefecture, an agricultural corner of China's Hubei province. The most majestic, Tenglong, or "flying dragon," is one of China's largest karst cave systems, spanning 37 miles of passages that contain numerous bats.

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.