Over the last several months, brown bears have been putting on pounds at Katmai National Park and Preserve. The culmination of their efforts is celebrated during Fat Bear Week, where 12 bears are pitted against each other in a bracket-style competition for the adoration of online voters.
The annual observance of Katmai’s bears has exploded in popularity since it started almost a decade ago. Last year, Fat Bear Week saw its highest voter turnout to date, with over 1.3 million participants from over 100 countries.
“It’s an opportunity to share their stories with people around the world, and also to celebrate Katmai’s robust ecosystem," said Mike Fitz, resident naturalist with Explore.org, a website that livestreams the bears at Katmai’s Brooks River Falls.
Contenders for this year’s Fat Bear Week were announced Tuesday after an incident earlier this week where a large bear killed a rival bear near Brooks River Falls.
In the running are several fan favorites. One of them is Grazer, last year’s Fat Bear Week winner. She grew in popularity because of her dominant nature and hefty stature, often displacing male bears in the park.
This year, though, Fitz says Grazer’s focused more of her energy on raising a new litter of cubs.
“She’s probably not as fat this year, but there’s a lot of stories associated with her that we can admire," Fitz said. "Her fearlessness, her dedication to her cubs, her work ethic. Bears are single moms, they don’t get any help from the male bears in raising cubs.”
There’s also Chunk, the most dominant bear on the river this year. He packs a punch at about 1,200 pounds. Yet, he’s never won Fat Bear Week.
A number of newcomers are also on this year’s docket. Bucky isn’t the oldest bear, but he’s certainly one of the smartest. He’s discovered a fishing spot all his own – under the cascade of Brooks River Falls. No bear has consistently fished there before.
And Fitz says Bear number 519, a teenager who just split from her mother, is also competing.
“It’s one of those young bears that’s on its own and trying to figure out the world for the first time, and that could be a real challenge for some of these younger bears,” he said.
For the first time, longtime favorite and four-time Fat Bear Week champion, Otis, is not in the running. He’s one of the oldest bears in the park, but has not returned to Brooks River Falls this summer. Fitz suspects he may have passed away.
Although the annual celebration is dubbed Fat Bear Week, the fat bears shouldn’t get all the credit. Fitz says Katmai’s sockeye salmon runs are the healthiest and largest in the world. Without them, there’d be no Fat Bear Week.
“Brooks River is part of the Bristol Bay salmon run, which is one of the last, probably the last great salmon run left on earth," Fitz said. "To be able to share that story of the sustainable fishery, of Bristol Bay, and what salmon can bring to ecosystems, whatever they happen to be, is a powerful message to bring to the world.”
Fitz says the much-anticipated event isn’t all about who wins, but rather, showcasing the diverse stories of the bears in the running. He says organizers are always looking for new and unique brown bear stories to tell that will resonate with online fans.
“This is an event, an election where all of the bears are worthy of the vote," Fitz said, "Despite what you see in local and national politics, and you may be apathetic or maybe not like the candidates at your disposal, I think every Fat Bear Week bear is certainly worthy of the vote.”
Online voting for Fat Bear Week opened Wednesday and runs through Tuesday. You can vote for your favorite fat bear and follow bracket results at Explore.org.