Overview
- Polls opened Tuesday, Sept. 22 and run through Sept. 29 at fatbearweek.org with live cameras on explore.org, and early voting caused heavy traffic and temporary outages on the livestream site.
- Last year’s champion Chunk (Bear 32) is competing again despite significant jaw and tooth damage that rangers say has not stopped him from gaining the fat he needs for winter.
- Park staff say this season has produced an unusually large number of cubs at Brooks Camp, a sign of strong reproduction that affects how females feed and protect offspring before hibernation.
- Park rangers reported that Bear 806 attacked and killed an unrelated spring cub this summer, a rare instance of female-inflicted infanticide at Brooks River that has drawn attention to bear social dynamics.
- Fat Bear Week began in 2014 as a ranger photo poll to show seasonal weight gain and now uses a 16-bear single-elimination bracket to educate the public, raise support for Katmai, and highlight the bears’ dependence on late-summer salmon to survive hibernation.