In an impressive display of strength, Chunk, the formidable brown bear with a fractured jaw, clinched victory in the much-anticipated Fat Bear Week contest on Tuesday. This marks his first triumph after previously finishing in second place for three consecutive years.
This beloved annual online event invites audiences to watch a dozen bears at Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve via live-streaming webcams. Participants can vote in a bracket-style tournament that spans a week.
Chunk, officially recognized as Bear 32, triumphed over Bear 856, who goes by no nickname, in the competition’s final showdown, as reported on the organizers’ website.
Contest organizers estimated Chunk’s weight to be around 1,200 pounds.
Due to safety concerns, individuals bears are not weighed during the contest, but Chunk and others have previously undergone density scans using advanced laser technology known as LIDAR to help estimate their weights.
“Even with his broken jaw, he holds the title of one of the largest and most formidable bears in Brooks River,” remarked Mike Fitz, a naturalist affiliated with explore.org. Fitz speculated that Chunk likely sustained his jaw injury from a skirmish with another bear.
The competition has garnered explosive popularity, garnering over 1.5 million votes this year as fans watched bears feast on an exceptional run of fall salmon in the Brooks River, located approximately 300 miles from Anchorage.
According to Naomi Boak of the Katmai Conservancy, this year’s salmon abundance has been unprecedented in the living memories of both the bears and the humans running the Fat Bear Week contest since its inception in 2014.
This year’s abundant salmon schools “reduced competition in the river, as fish were abundantly accessible,” Boak commented in an email.
In an announcement made Tuesday, Katmai Park ranger Sarah Bruce estimated that around 200,000 salmon traveled up the Brooks River.
During leaner times, dominant bears would often compete for the prime fishing spots at Brooks Falls, where salmon aggregate and leap from the water in their upstream spawning journey.
This year, however, those coveted fishing areas at Brooks Falls frequently remained unoccupied, as bears fished along the river’s lengths. There was even space available for human anglers.
On one occasion Monday, an Explore.org live feed depicted two people leisurely casting their fishing rods in the river while brown bears ambled up and down the banks nearby.
During the contest, voters had the opportunity to view before-and-after images of the bears, showcasing their transformation from lean summer physiques to robust figures at the season’s end.
The bears are not actually weighed — doing so poses safety risks — and many fans select their favorite bears based on their physical appearance or captivating backstories.
The live cameras at Brooks Falls captured a dramatic moment in 2024 when mother bear 128, Grazer, lost her cub over the waterfall, leading it directly to Chunk’s fishing territory, where he attacked and injured the cub.
Grazer battled Chunk; unfortunately, the cub ultimately did not survive. After this harrowing event, voting fans awarded Grazer a win over Chunk.
First established in 2014, Fat Bear Week serves as an engaging platform to educate the public about brown bears, the coastal relatives of grizzlies, who work tirelessly throughout summer to consume salmon, bulking up for hibernation during Alaska’s frigid winters.
