First Wild Mammal Bird Flu Death in South Korea Comes After Scientists at Same University Engineered 100% Lethal H5N1 in Mammals: 'Frontiers in Veterinary Science'
Lab-created H5N1 strain designed to invade mammalian brains surfaces in South Korea's first wild mammal bird flu case—found in the exact same organ.
Summary:
March 18, 2025: South Korea’s first recorded wild mammal death from H5N1—leopard cat found dying, infection confirmed in lungs and brain.
Same university, same scientists: Konkuk University team that detected the leopard infection had already created a brain-targeting H5N1 strain 100% lethal in mammals using gain-of-function methods.
Brain match: Lab strain caused fatal neurological damage in mice; wild leopard cat infection found in the same organ targeted in their experiments.
Second high-risk study: Other South Korean scientists built a chimeric, weaponized H5N1 with heatproofing, altered receptor binding, boosted replication, and record-breaking human cell entry.
Tight timeline: Both gain-of-function projects completed before or around the leopard’s infection and death.
No oversight cited: No public record of gain-of-function review, biosafety audit, or independent investigation.
Pattern emerges: Same country, same viral clade, same type of high-risk enhancements—followed closely by first-ever wild mammal fatality from that clade.
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South Korea’s first recorded wild mammal death from H5N1 bird flu—a leopard cat found dying on March 18, 2025—occurred after scientists at the same university (Konkuk) had already completed gain-of-function experiments making the virus 100% lethal in mammals, raising questions over whether the fatal infection could be linked to the laboratory-enhanced pathogen.
The leopard’s bird flu death was reported in a July 2025 Frontiers in Veterinary Science paper written by Konkuk University researchers, while the risky bird flu experiments carried out by the same university were published in Virology Journal in June 2025.
Both papers were authored by the same researchers, Dong-Yeop Lee and Dong-Hun Lee, linking not only the country’s first recorded wild mammal H5N1 death to the same university that performed risky gain-of-function work, but to the exact same scientists—a connection that raises serious questions about biosafety, containment, and whether a lab-enhanced pathogen may have spilled into the wild.
A separate Virology Journal paper published in May 2025 from other South Korean institutions also detailed the creation of a chimeric, weaponized H5N1 strain with enhanced stability, altered receptor targeting, and increased replication potential in mammalian cells—underscoring how widespread such high-risk bird flu research has become in the country.
Though published in May, the experiments described in this second Virology Journal paper must have been conducted months earlier during the research phase, meaning they occurred either before or around the same time as the leopard cat’s infection and death—further tightening the timeline between South Korea’s lab-based H5N1 enhancements and its first documented mammalian fatality from the same viral clade.
The bird flu-related experiments and leopard death come as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) this year announced a $500 million “next-generation” pandemic vaccine initiative focused on avian influenza bird flu.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy recently cancelled 22 government-funded mRNA vaccine projects, but allowed a Bill Gates-linked Arcuturs Theraputics’ bird flu project to continue.
The U.S. has also been funding experiments on bird flu pathogens, along with China (here), Japan, Brazil, and the Netherlands.
First Mammal Death from Bird Flu in South Korea
On March 18, 2025, a wild leopard cat was found moribund (at the point of death) near a reservoir in Hwasun County, South Korea, and died within hours at the Jeollanam-do wild animal rescue center.
The Frontiers in Veterinary Science report—led by Konkuk University researchers—confirmed the cause was an H5N1 avian influenza virus infection, marking the first documented case of H5N1 in a wild mammal in South Korea.
The report describes the animal’s rapid deterioration and death as consistent with severe systemic viral disease.
Astoundingly, bird flu was detected in the leopard’s brain, the very organ targeted by the mutated bird flu pathogen created by Konkuk scientists in earlier experiments.
The Frontiers report reads:
“Here, we report the first documented case of H5N1 HPAI in a wild mammal in South Korea, identified in a leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis). On March 18, 2025, a wild leopard cat discovered moribund near a freshwater reservoir in Hwasun County of Jeollanam-do Province and submitted to the National Institute of Wildlife Disease Control and Prevention (NIWDC) of Korea. We isolated the H5N1 virus from this leopard cat, sequenced, and assessed its evolutionary history and molecular markers indicative of mammalian adaptation.”
“The brain and trachea from the submitted leopard cat tested positive for influenza A virus…”
The fact that the leopard’s brain infection mirrors the brain-targeting traits engineered by the same researchers at the same university raises the disturbing possibility that a lab-enhanced bird flu strain—whether through a catastrophic accident or intentional release—may have spilled into the wild.
These developments raise fears that another man-made pandemic is on the horizon, as Congress, the White House, the Department of Energy, the FBI, and the CIA have acknowledged that a lab-related incident involving gain-of-function research is the most likely origin of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Konkuk University’s Mammal-Lethal H5N1 Experiments
Before this leopard cat was found infected, Konkuk University scientists had already conducted a Virology Journal study in which they engineered H5N1 avian influenza to be 100% lethal in mammals.
The work involved serial passaging in mice—a hallmark gain-of-function method—to progressively increase virulence until the virus killed every test animal.
Histopathology showed severe lung lesions, multi-organ infection, and high viral loads in multiple tissues.
Significantly, researchers intentionally infected mammals with a virus they knew contained a mutation that helps bird flu spread and replicate more effectively in mammals, including humans.
Once inside the mice, the mutation exploded to near-total dominance—not just in the lungs, but in the brain, where it caused seizures, ataxia, and fatal neurological damage.
The Virology Journal study reads:
“The PB2-E627K variant, initially present at 4% in the virus stock, was selected and reached near-fixation (~ 100%) in the lungs and brains by 6 days post-challenge and was subsequently transmitted.”
“In dead direct-contact mice, the E627K mutation in PB2 was found at a proportion of 99.8–100% in both the lungs and brains.”
The virus became neurotropic—targeting the brain—and caused seizures and other neurological symptoms before death.
“Two out of three direct-contact mice displayed significant neurological symptoms, including seizure, ataxia, and bradykinesia.”
Given that such experiments and subsequent data analysis take months to complete before publication, the virus-enhancement work must have been finished well before the March 18, 2025 leopard cat infection — meaning the wild detection came after the creation of a lab-engineered H5N1 strain designed to invade and damage mammalian brains, the very organ in which the leopard’s infection was found.
Separate South Korean Study Created Chimeric, Weaponized H5N1
On May 5, 2025, the same Virology Journal published another study from South Korean scientists detailing the construction of a lab-made bird flu chimera with traits that make it more dangerous, more resilient, and more capable of infecting humans.
They engineered the virus by:
Combining gene segments from three different influenza viruses:
HA and NA from clade 2.3.4.4b H5N1 (highly pathogenic bird flu)
Six internal genes from A/Puerto Rico/8/1934 (PR8)
PB2 gene from A/Chicken/01310/Korea/2001 with three targeted mutations (I66M, I109V, I133V)
Using reverse genetics to rebuild the virus from scratch.
Key weaponized traits added:
Heatproofing: R90K + H110Y mutations allowed survival at 52°C for hours, increasing environmental persistence.
Host retargeting: N193D receptor-binding mutation altered which species and tissues the virus can infect, directly impacting cross-species spillover risk.
Replication boost: Modified PB2 gene amplified replication in both bird eggs and mammalian cells, meaning faster spread in multiple hosts.
Enhanced human cell entry: BEI-inactivated 22W_KY variant achieved the highest recorded level of intracellular entry in the study, paired with stronger IgG, IgA, and T-cell responses in lungs—evidence of deep tissue penetration and immune activation.
These traits make the purported virus more stable, more adaptable to mammals, and better at invading human cells than natural H5N1 strains.
No mention of gain-of-function oversight or biosafety risk assessment was made.
When viewed alongside other brain-targeting and mammal-infecting experiments by the same country’s scientists, this chimeric H5N1 work points to a broader pattern of high-risk viral engineering that could plausibly explain—and even link—recent unexplained animal infections.
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Bottom Line
Within months of South Korean scientists engineering multiple enhanced H5N1 strains—some 100% lethal in mammals, others genetically altered for improved heat resistance, cross-species transmission, and record-breaking human cell entry—the country recorded its first wild mammal death from the same viral clade.
This death, in a leopard cat, was confirmed by the very same university and the very same scientists who had recently created a brain-targeting version of H5N1 in the lab.
The infection was found in the leopard’s brain—the precise organ targeted in their gain-of-function experiments.
When coupled with the second chimeric, weaponized H5N1 strain engineered by other South Korean institutions during the same period, the pattern is undeniable:
Same country.
Same viral clade.
Same high-risk research.
Same scientists in one case.
Same type of infection seen in the wild shortly afterward.
With no public indication of gain-of-function oversight, containment audits, or independent biosafety investigation, the proximity in time, place, personnel, and pathogen design raises one unavoidable question:
Is South Korea’s recent mammalian H5N1 outbreak a naturally occurring event—or the first visible consequence of a lab-created virus escaping into the wild?
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Level the fucking labs.
And stop waiting for the current administration to do diddly shit about any of this.
“HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy recently cancelled 22 government-funded mRNA vaccine projects, but allowed a Bill Gates-linked Arcuturs Theraputics’ bird flu project to continue.”
they’re all complicit criminals.
These scientists just cannot stop... they have to create these deadly diseases...FOR WHAT? Recognition, Money??? Not just Korea. Many other countries, including mine, have people working on this. Our world is on the brink of extermination due to a few arrogant people that think they can do this and contain it. The governments and billionaire control freaks that are funding this weaponization of research should be put in jail for crimes against humanity. Perhaps it truly is planned depopulation... and every day we seem to get closer to that scenario.