COVID-19 may be linked to raccoon dogs that were illegally being sold (for their fur and meat) at a seafood market in Wuhan, China. That’s according to a team of international researchers who analyzed samples of genetic data from the Wuhan market in China in 2020.
This species is neither a raccoon nor a dog — it’s loosely related to a fox. They weigh about 16 pounds, and are native to East Asia, including parts of China, Korea, and Japan.