There is a new champion, fattest bear in Katmai: The winner of Katmai National Park’s 4th Annual Fat Bear Week is — number 409.
409 – also known as “Beadnose” – advanced through this year’s bracket to become champion, carried through each round by votes at the park’s Facebook page. In a post, Katmai said of 409, “her radiant rolls were deemed by the voting public to be this year’s most fabulous flab.”
Beadnose 409’s prize for being a monument to hefty ursine living? A good shot at surviving the winter. She will have a few more weeks to expand her already impressive figure before resting on her laurels, in a den, for the winter.
Wesley Early covers Anchorage life and city politics for Alaska Public Media. Reach him at wearly@alaskapublic.org and follow him on X at @wesley_early. Read more about Wesley here.
