Every October, thousands celebrate “Fat Bear Week,” a single-elimination, bracket-style tournament where voters choose their favorite fat brown bear! The contest is based out of Katmai National Park in Alaska, home to an estimated 2,200 brown bears. Voters are provided with photos of the contestants before and after their weight gain, and are able to watch the bears roam the park’s Brooks River Falls through a livestream on explore.org. Fat Bear Week has gained traction in recent years, with around 1.3 million voters worldwide in the last year’s contest.
In my opinion, Fat Bear Week isn’t just something cute to watch, but also a celebration of the brown bears residency in southwestern Alaska and their impressive feeding season. Bears thrive in this region, mainly due to the salmon streams that serve as their main food source. In fact, this is why they become so fat — during summer and early fall, bears gain up to 500 pounds in order to conserve energy for hibernation. Although male bears generally put on more weight, the weight gain is also essential for pregnant females, who require more fat to sustain their young through the cold Alaskan winters.
However, as wholesome as Fat Bear Week may sound, it does not come without controversy. In 2022, there was an instance of voter fraud, resulting in one finalist receiving about 9,000 illegitimate votes and unfairly winning the contest. This was later resolved and the correct winner was awarded their title, but not before an investigation by park officials. This year’s incident may be even more crazy than fat bear voter fraud. Bears #469 and #402 got into a fight, which ended in the death of Bear #402. This occurred in the livestreamed area, and voters were understandably shocked. As a result of the fight, the reveal of the year’s bracket was delayed by one day, and a live Q&A session with park rangers was prompted. This was likely not Bear #469’s first offense, as he was seen suspiciously guarding the remains of an unidentified bear back in 2012. However, the National Park Service has chosen not to discipline Bear #469 for his actions. When asked about the incident, Park Ranger Sarah Bruce said, “it’s just kind of part of bear behavior and bear life. It’s one of the sadder parts of it, one of the more difficult parts of it. But we’re certainly just going to allow nature to play out as it does.”
