Overview

The Mr. Fresh Bounty refers to an alleged bounty placed on the cat named Mr. Fresh (also known as Brother Fresh) who's part of the Cat Feeder Camera Cats on the Chinese livestream app Hello Street Cat. In early 2024, it was reported that Chinese Telegram users part of an animal abuse group placed a cash bounty on Mr. Fresh, asking for his death and torture. The news spread to the Western web on Instagram via the account @feline_guardians. In turn, many in China made efforts to save Mr. Fresh. In the West, people raised awareness and made memes about Mr. Fresh evading his bounty.

Background

Mr. Fresh originally went viral on Chinese social media platforms like Weibo and Douyin in 2023. Mr. Fresh is a frequent cat on the Chinese livestream app Hello Street Cat. He's nicknamed Mr. Fresh (or Brother Fresh) because he only eats freshly dropped food, as stated by TikToker^[1] @annettesullivan.

On February 19th, 2024, Instagram^[2] user @feline_guardians posted a Reel that showed messages purportedly sourced from a Chinese Telegram group in which users post graphic videos and images of animal abuse and cat torture. The message shown placed a bounty on the death of Mr. Fresh. The Reel received over 1,100 likes in nine days (screenshots shown below).

Condition: kill the internet famous "Brother Fresh", upon completion wait the cry of at least three cat influencers as a confirmed death.
Bounty kill for ** usdt.
Bonus: put the corpse back to the streethouse station for ** usdt.

The Instagram^[3] account @feline_guardians is a page dedicated to "exposing and combating cat torture networks" and frequently posts content about online rings, on Telegram and elsewhere, who sell graphic content of animal abuse. The page has covered viral stories out of China like the Cat Blender Video that was sourced from similar cat torture communities on the Chinese web.

Predominantly in China, animal abuse (centering on cat torture) is common and not properly enforced because China has no laws against animal cruelty or abandonment, including laws against "recreational" abuse.^[4][5]

Other than the Cat Blender Video, numerous viral stories about cat torture communities on Telegram and Chinese social media have surfaced. For instance, a man surnamed Li made headlines in February 2023 after a group (believed to be animal activists) attacked him because he reportedly "bragged that he had butchered several cats that week and said he planned on adopting four cats and streaming their killing live that night."^[4][6]

Online Reactions

News of the bounty on Mr. Fresh spread on social media in February 2024. For instance, on February 20th, 2024, X^[7] user @syrencove tweeted a screenshot of the Telegram message, gaining over 79,600 views and 730 likes in eight days (shown below, left).

On February 21st, Redditor^[8] BuildingLanky7843 shared a screenshot of the Telegram message to /r/iamatotalpieceofshit, gaining over 3,900 upvotes in a week (shown below, right).

Humorous reactions about the bounty also surfaced, like a post shared by X^[9] user @obtoose_angle on February 20th, 2024, who referenced the You Smoke Too Tough meme, gaining over 330 likes in eight days (shown below).

MR FRESH HAS OPPS AND A FUCKING BOUNTY?!?! HIS FOOD TOO FRESH, HIS FACE TOO WEIRD, THEY'LL KILL HIM pic.twitter.com/MJpL39Ls1w

— Faust patient💉 (@obtoose_angle) February 20, 2024

On TikTok, more reactions surfaced, like a video shared by TikToker^[10] @catpurrlvr on February 20th, who relayed the information to the platform, gaining over 2 million plays and 269,000 likes in eight days (shown below, left).

On February 22nd, 2024, TikToker^[11] @wistful_mist posted a John Wick meme with a top captioned reading, "mr fresh hearing about his bounty," gaining over 43,600 plays and 2,400 likes in six days (shown below, right).

Developments

Mr. Fresh's Hospilitizaion And Adoption

On February 25th, 2024, Instagram^[12] user @savingcatsinchina posted a Reel that relayed a statement published by the Hello Street Cat app. The company said that on February 20th, Mr. Fresh had been captured by volunteers and hospitalized to treat eye inflammation. The company said that they were looking for someone to adopt Mr. Fresh to keep him safe. The statement did not reference the bounty but accounts like @savingcatsinchina used his then-current hospitalization and recovery as a sign of his protection from assailants.

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References