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. It's a jarring irony that one of the Wuhan virus researchers' greatest international allies has been the US government, which, in 2009, created the Emerging Pandemics Threat programme with an annual budget of $500 million. The programme was particularly keen on bat viruses, the top priority of an organisation called EcoHealth Alliance, based in New York. Originally named Wildlife Preservation Trust International, it had been set up in 1971 by Gerald Durrell, the naturalist and author. The alliance is run by Dr Peter Daszak, a British scientist who promotes the idea that bats are a particularly significant host for viruses. He has obtained $100 million in US government grants (some from the Pentagon and nearly half donated by the US government's Emerging Pandemic Threats programme) and earns a salary of just over $400,000.