Usually, sometime around the middle of September all I can talk about are the bears of Katmai. Sadly, for all my friends bear talk started in July and never really stopped. Every year since 2014 Katmai National Park and Explore.org has hosted fat bear week. Ok, back in 2014 it was just Fat Bear Tuesday. However, from 2015 on, it’s been a full week of bear bliss.
My sweet Oatie Bear [RIP] is a 4x and lifetime achievement winner, Beadnose [RIP] was massive when she won in 2015 and 2018.. Holly is another fat bear champion [2019]. 747 aka Colbert aka Bear Force One is another gentle giant 2x winner [2020 and 2022]. In reality, it’s a fun contest raising awareness of the Alaskan Coastal Brown Bear. All bears that get fat and survive the winter are fat bear champs in my mind.
During an Alaskan winter, these big bears lose up to a third of their mass during hibernation making it crucial for them to fatten. up during the summer. Last year’s salmon run was sort of pathetic leading to a lot of bear fight and some not so plump bears heading in to winter. This year’s salmon run was nothing short of spectacular and we had so many fat bears and even better fat cubs.
Every year, the first Tuesday of October is known as Fat Bear Tuesday. Although this year it fell on October 8th, FBT occurs when Katmai’s fattest bear is crowned. Fans from all over the world vote on Explore.org’s website. And the winner is—GRAZER!!! She’s a two time champ defending her 2023 title this time being the first bear to ever win FBW with a spring cub in tow, Grazer is mama bear personified.
And since we are humans and we assign human emotions to animals, think on this. Grazer beat Chunk to win the fat bear title. During the summer, Grazer’s smallest spring cub went over the falls and directly in the path of Chuck. Chunk did what bears do and Grazer did what mama bears do. There was a fight. And while Grazer saved her littlest cub that day, it died about a week later. Grazer said ‘Fuck you, Chunky Bear’ and took her remaining cub on a walkabout and both Grazer and the cub got FAT. Fat enough to beat Chunk in a head to head match-up of Fat Bears.
