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Fat Bear Week Bracket Unveiled as 2025 Vote Opens Sept. 23

A record salmon run has left Katmai’s bears unusually well fed, setting up a particularly competitive public vote.

Grazer, a female bear who is the two-time defending champion in the popular online Fat Bear Week competition, is shown Sept. 27, 2024, in Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska.
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Overview

  • Public voting runs September 23–30 with daily polls open from noon to 9 p.m. ET on the Fat Bear Week site hosted by Explore.org.
  • The tournament is a 12-bear, single-elimination bracket drawn from Katmai’s Brooks River population, with four first-round byes.
  • Fat Bear Jr. concluded ahead of the main event, and winner 128 Jr. advances into the adult bracket.
  • Park officials report an exceptional 2025 sockeye run that reduced jostling at Brooks Falls and produced especially robust bears.
  • The outreach event is run by the National Park Service with Explore.org and the Katmai Conservancy, featuring livestreams and before-and-after photos to support one-vote-per-email balloting.