Chunk, a 540kg bear with a broken jaw, wins Alaska’s popular Fat Bear Week competition

By&nbspCEDAR ATTANASIO and MARK THIESSEN&nbspwith&nbspAP

Published on 01/10/2025 - 12:40 GMT+2

Chunk, a towering brownish carnivore pinch a surgery jaw, swept nan title Tuesday successful nan celebrated Fat Bear Week title — his first triumph aft narrowly finishing successful 2nd spot 3 erstwhile years.

The annual online competition allows viewers to travel 12 bears successful Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve connected unrecorded webcams and formed ballots successful a bracket-style, single-elimination tourney that lasts a week. Chunk, known officially arsenic Bear 32, hit retired Bear 856, who doesn't person a nickname, successful nan last bracket, according to totals posted connected nan organisers' website.

Chunk’s weight was estimated astatine 1,200 pounds (nearly 550 kilograms) by title organisers. While they do not measurement individual bears during nan title owed to information concerns, Chunk and others person had their density scanned successful nan past to bolster weight estimates utilizing laser exertion called LIDAR.

“Despite his surgery jaw, he remains 1 of nan biggest, baddest bears astatine Brooks River,” said Mike Fitz, a naturalist for explore.org. Fitz said Chunk apt wounded his jaw successful a conflict pinch different bear.

The largest glut of salmon successful surviving memory

The title is wildly popular. This year, it attracted complete 1.5 cardinal votes from fans who watched nan ursines gorge connected a grounds tally of autumn salmon arsenic they fished successful nan Brooks River astir 480 kilometres from Anchorage.

It is nan largest glut of salmon successful nan surviving memories of nan bears aliases nan humans who person been moving nan Fat Bear Week title since 2014, according to Katmai Conservancy spokesperson Naomi Boak.

That abundance “decreased conflict successful nan stream since salmon were readily available,” Boak said successful an email. In Tuesday's announcement, Katmai National Park ranger Sarah Bruce estimated astir 200,000 salmon made their measurement up Brooks River.

In leaner years, nan toughest bears jockey for nan champion fishing spots astatine Brooks Falls, wherever nan salmon converge successful a bottleneck and leap from nan h2o arsenic they conflict their measurement upstream to spawn.

This year, Brooks Falls sportfishing spots were often quiet arsenic bears hunted up and down stream. There was moreover room for humans to fish. At 1 constituent Monday, 1 of nan Explore.org unrecorded cameras showed 2 group calmly casting sportfishing rods on nan river, moreover arsenic brownish bears plodded upstream and downstream from them.

Dramatic fights and affectional backstories

Voters successful nan online title could reappraisal earlier and aft photos of nan bears, thin astatine nan commencement of summertime and fattened astatine nan end. The bears are not really weighed, arsenic that would beryllium excessively vulnerable and difficult. Some fans take their favourite based connected looks aliases backstory.

The unrecorded cameras astatine Brooks Falls captured nan moments successful 2024 erstwhile mother carnivore 128 Grazer’s cub slipped complete nan waterfall and floated into nan sportfishing spot occupied by Chunk, who attacked and injured nan cub. Grazer fought Chunk, but nan cub yet died. After nan melodramatic fight, voting fans handed Grazer a triumph complete Chunk.

Fat Bear Week was started successful 2014 arsenic an interactive measurement to pass nan nationalist astir brownish bears, nan coastal cousins of grizzlies. They walk summers catching and eating arsenic galore salmon arsenic imaginable truthful they tin fatten up for hibernation successful Alaska's cold, thin winters.