Katmai Launches 12th Fat Bear Week Voting as 1.7 Million Backed 2025 Champion
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Sep 18
Katmai Launches 12th Fat Bear Week Voting as 1.7 Million Backed 2025 Champion
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Sep 18
Summary
Public voting opens Monday for Katmai National Park’s 12th annual Fat Bear Week, with this year’s single-elimination contest running from Sept. 22 to Sept. 29 after the bracket drops Friday.
More cubs than seen in years are expected to reshape the field, with park officials linking the surge to last year’s strong salmon run that left bears better fed and more likely to produce larger litters.
1.7 million votes from 100 countries crowned Bear 32 “Chunk” last year, underscoring how the event has grown from a 2014 Facebook post into a global online draw powered by Explore.org livestreams.
Katmai, 260 miles southwest of Anchorage, uses the contest to connect viewers to one of the most remote U.S. national parks, home to about 2,200 brown bears and a major salmon ecosystem.