Genetic material collected at the Wuhan Chinese Market where the first human cases of COVID-19 were identified show raccoon dog DNA commingled with COVID-19. Some scientists believe COVID most likely jumped from animals to people, others believe the virus could have been leaked from one of the several Wuhan coronavirus research facilities. The genetic material collected does not prove that a racoon dog stated the pandemic. Human DNA was also found in the sample. A human may have infected the animal, or the animal may have never harbored the virus.

The samples were collected from surfaces at the Huanan Seafood Market in early 2020 in Wuhan, where the first human cases of COVID-19 were found in late 2019. The racoon dogs, named for their raccoon-like faces, are often bred for their fur and sold for meat in animal markets across China. Some of the COVID positive samples were collected from a stall known to be involved in the wildlife trade. The sample also contained raccoon dog genes. The genetic sequences were recently uploaded to the world’s biggest public virus database by scientists at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The genetic sequences were then removed from the internet, but not before a French biologist spotted the information by chance and shared it with a group of scientists based outside China that’s looking into the origins of the coronavirus. The WHO stated that “this data could have and should have been shared three years ago.”

The inconclusive analysis did not find the virus within any animal, nor did it find any hard evidence that racoon dogs infected humans.