A virologist who funded the Wuhan lab at the center of COVID leak claims – and then allegedly tried to ‘bully’ that theory away – has proudly filmed himself inside a bat-filled cave and handling the creatures for his research.
Last week, Dr. Peter Daszak posted a video on his Twitter filmed from the depths of the Ratchaburi Cave in Thailand.
Daszak, who is from England and now lives in upstate New York, was surrounded by 2.5million of the creatures he thinks COVID-19 came from. He referred to the cave as the ‘reactor core’ of viral activity.
He shared multiple other snaps of the winged creatures – believed to harbor the pathogen that sparked the pandemic – and even uploaded a video of one being fed by hand.
Daszak was there as part of a legitimate research trip, with scientists having long-researched bat-related coronaviruses.
But his posts could well unsettle Americans who’ve just emerged from a pandemic that’s killed 1.08 million across the country – especially given his close and controversial ties to the suspected origin site.
The scientist was engulfed in scandal after it was revealed in a Vanity Fair expose that his charity, EcoHealth Alliance, provided funding for the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s Gain-of-function research.
The lab is now widely-believed to have created and negligently released SARS-CoV-2.
Gain of function research modifies viruses to make them more powerful in a bid to create potential treatments for future pandemics.
Despite Daszak’s ties to Wuhan Institute of Virology, in September EcoHealth Alliance was awarded a $653,392 grant from the National Institutes of Health to study Covid-like viruses in bats across Asia and Africa.
It is unclear if last week’s Thailand trip was paid for with US taxpayers’ cash.
In the heart of the bat cave – deafening noise as the bats swirl around. It’s the sheer beauty of nature & at the same time it seems like the “reactor core” of the colony given what we know about viral emergence. Ratchaburi Cave 2.5 million bats. pic.twitter.com/jTDN1oDSVU
— Peter Daszak (@PeterDaszak) December 10, 2022
In a series of tweets this week, Daszak posted videos of himself and other researchers surrounded by swarms of bats, and even feeding them by hand.
‘In the heart of the bat cave – deafening noise as the bats swirl around,’ he wrote alongside a video showing a column of bats pouring out of a cave.
‘It’s the sheer beauty of nature & at the same time it seems like the ‘reactor core’ of the colony given what we know about viral emergence.’
In other tweets researchers could be seen handling bats and feeding them, releasing them into the air by hand, and standing in the midst of clouds of bats as they go about their work.
In each of the videos the researchers wore full protective gear – body suits, gloves, goggles, and face masks – while their close proximity to vast numbers of the creatures was apparent.
Then freedom with their friends!!! pic.twitter.com/FZSAwJLXvy
— Peter Daszak (@PeterDaszak) December 10, 2022
