Annual Fat Bear Week contest hits snag after deadly bear fight
The line-up for this year's Fat Bear Week contest was unveiled last night after an initial delay caused by a deadly bear-on-bear attack in Alaska’s on Monday.
In what’s become a bona fide autumn ritual in the United States, members of the public will get to weigh in on their favourite bear contestants, fattened up to survive the winter, from 5pm today UK time through to October 8.
This year's contestants were revealed a day late because one of the contestants, a female known as Bear 402, was attacked and killed by Bear 469, a larger male, in the Brooks River, in Katmai National Park and Preserve.
Cameras set up in the park to livestream footage of the bears all summer captured the killing, delaying the posting of the tournament brackets by a day while park and contest officials regrouped.
The National Park Service and Explore.Org have posted an edited version of the footage along with commentary on YouTube.
In the video commentary, the experts were not sure what caused the attack but said it was unusual.
No. 402 is seen trying to get away from the predatory male bear but was unable to do so. The experts said they think she died by being drowned.
“We love the bears, but again it’s a clear reminder of how big and strong and powerful these animals actually are,” Mike Fitz, the resident naturalist with Explore.org can be heard saying. in
“402 is a beloved bear by each and every one of us, and I honestly, you know, I think we’re all in a little bit of a loss of words. … This is really difficult to see.”
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What is Fat Bear Week?
The popular contest is observing its 10th anniversary this year – but comes with a stark reminder that the harsh laws of nature are always in play in the southern Alaskan wilderness at Katmai.
It celebrates the resiliency of the 2,200 brown bears that live in the preserve. The animals gorge on the abundant sockeye salmon that return to the Brooks River, sometimes chomping the fish in midair as they try to hurdle a small waterfall and make their way upstream to spawn.
The bracket for this year's contest features 12 bears, with eight facing off against each other in the first round and four receiving byes to the second round. They've all been packing on the pounds all summer.
In this single-elimination tournament format, the bears vie for votes daily in head-to-head matchups. The bear collecting the most online votes advances to the next round.
Notable competitors
Bear 909 Jr., who last week won the Fat Bear Junior competition for the second time, will face Bear 519, a young female in the first round.
The winner will face the defending champion, Grazer, described as one of the most formidable bears on the river.
Another first-round match pits Bear 903, an 8-year-old male who was given the nickname Gully after he developed a taste for seagulls, against Bear 909, the mother of Bear 909 Jr.
The winner faces a two-time champion, a bear so large he was given the number of the equally massive airplane, Bear 747.
Adult male brown bears typically weigh 270 to 410 kilograms in mid-summer. By the time they are ready to hibernate after feasting on migrating and spawning salmon — each eats as many as 30 fish per day — large males can weigh well over 454 kilograms. Females are about one-third smaller.
Ready to vote for your favourite fattened bear? Cast your vote at fatbearweek.org.
Almost 1.4 million votes were cast for the bears from more than 100 countries in the 2023 contest, which was won by a defensive mama bear named 128 Grazer.
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