Overview
- The 12th annual Fat Bear Week has come down to Bear #910 (Dancing Queen) and Bear #89 (Backpack), with online voting open today from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern and a champion to be announced this evening.
- Last year’s champion Chunk (Bear 32) returned to Brooks River but was eliminated early after losing to Bucky, who then lost to Backpack on the way to the final.
- Contestants this year include multiple mother–cub groups and unusual family stories, notably Bear #132’s three spring cubs and Bear #910’s rare past adoption of a yearling, which organizers used to highlight survival challenges for cubs.
- The event’s reach is amplified by explore.org’s live bear cams, a Google interactive doodle that lets users feed a virtual bear, and large past turnout with more than 1.7 million votes cast in 2025.
- Organizers at Katmai National Park, explore.org and the Katmai Conservancy frame Fat Bear Week as an educational conservation effort that explains hyperphagia and the bears’ dependence on abundant salmon to build fat for hibernation.