Alaska’s bear fans return to Katmai National Park for Chunk’s Fat Bear Week title defense

Alaska’s heaviest brown bears are back on the scale, and voters are about to decide who gets the crown. Fat Bear Week opened its online contest Tuesday, pitting 16 Katmai National Park residents against each other for the title of most oversized ursine.

The 12th edition of the annual contest features a rematch opportunity for last year’s champion, Chunk, who faces the corpulent competition of Gully — the offspring of two-time champion Grazer. Chunk is back for a repeat after his 2025 victory, when his weight was estimated at 1,200 pounds.

A 1,200-Pound Champion

Bear 32, also known as Chunk, earned his title through a close win last year. Over the summer, he spent his time gathering sockeye salmon, a standard meal for bears in Katmai National Park and Preserve, which is located on the Alaska Peninsula near the Aleutian Islands.

The contest celebrates the resilience of the 2,200 brown bears that live in the preserve. They gorge on the abundant salmon that return to the Brooks River, sometimes chomping the fish in midair as they move upstream to spawn.

The 16-Bear Tournament

This year’s event follows a single-elimination, bracket-style format. Online voting takes place at www.fatbearweek.org, with the winner declared Sept. 29. Fans can watch the bears on explore.org’s livestream cameras before deciding on their favorite.

What the Bears Eat

Bears begin feasting on salmon in late June to store fat for winter hibernation, a period when they stop eating and drinking and lose one-third of their body weight. During the salmon run, each bear can take in as many as 30 fish per day.

Comparing the Bears

Male brown bears usually weigh 600 to 900 pounds by midsummer. Following a period of feasting on migrating and spawning salmon, large males often tip the scales at well over 1,000 pounds before going into hibernation. Adult females weigh roughly one-third less than the males.

The bears aren’t weighed during the contest at all. Instead, voters study before-and-after photos, with the bears lean at the start of summer and fattened at the end. Some fans pick a favorite based on looks or backstory.

Chunk’s Last Stand

Chunk faced a dramatic moment in 2024 when mother bear 128 Grazer’s cub slipped over the waterfall at Brooks Falls and floated into the fishing spot occupied by Chunk, who attacked and injured the cub. Grazer fought Chunk, but the cub ultimately died.

Following the clash, the voting audience conferred a win on Grazer over Chunk. Later, Chunk came back in 2025 to seize the championship.

The Contenders

• Chunk (Bear 32), last year’s champion at an estimated 1,200 pounds
• Gully (Bear 903), the offspring of two-time champion Grazer
• 14 other Katmai bears facing off in the single-elimination tournament

The contest requires bears to be seen in the region surrounding the waterway in order to be included.

A Repeat Bid for Chunk

The event began in 2014 as a participatory method to educate the public about brown bears, the coastal cousins of grizzlies.

Last year’s winner is hungry for a repeat. The contest is a chance for voters to weigh in on which bear’s story, or which bear’s bulk, deserves the crown.

The contest runs through Sept. 29, when the winner is declared.

Source material: “Fat Bear Week opens for Alaska’s heavyweight crown. Can Chunk, the 1,200-pound champ, win again?,” ABC13 Houston.

Alaska wildlife · bear contest · bear photography · Fat Bear Week · Katmai National Park