Chris Loustaunau, Editor-in-Chief
After a ruthless six-day battle and many pounds of salmon, a brown bear named 747 has been crowned the winner of fat bear week. Fat Bear Week is an annual tournament taking place every October. It pits bears in Katmai National Park, Alaska against each other in a week-long bracket style competition, evaluating a bear’s “success in preparation for winter hibernation”. Participants vote to decide who they deem is the “fattest” bear.
Bear 747 received 68,105 votes, beating rival 901 who got 56,876. Bear 747 is one of the largest Bears on Earth. He has previously won fat bear of the week back in 2020. The victory marks the end of fat bear the week of 2022, which saw people from Around The World vote for the fattest grizzly bear at the Alaska Katmai National Park.
“Ultimately, 747 ripped apart the salmon – and the competition – to seize his 2nd crown as the 2022 Champion,” the park tweeted after Tuesday’s vote. However Bear 747 nearly didn’t make it to the finale because of an unprecedented case of voter fraud in the semi-finals which was quickly corrected by fat bear the week officials.
Because of the minor hiccup, it is been smooth sailing for the eighth annual fat bear week- Extravaganza which celebrates the most fearsome Bruins prowling Katmai National Park sprawling a whopping 8 million acre Reserve that teaches the public about how animals thrive in nature.
Some of these Bears need to get rather chunky in a short time frame to prepare for their winter hibernation. Approximately every bear eats around 500 lb of salmon in this National Park.
Bears from around the world can tune into live cameras placed around the National Park to see you there hungry impudent bears in action. Voting opened on October 5 and closed on Tuesday evening.
In the finale, Bear 747 had an exceptionally large was an exceptionally large animal and crowned the winner of fat bear of the week 2020. His competition is bear 901, a younger female bear who piled up lb for the grueling season.
A 747 was identified by the state Park staff back in 2004 and he was a young bear who was unable to compete with more seasoned Rivals for the prime fishing locations at the park.
Bear 747 is known to be an efficient Fisher this year he fished almost every day at the Brooks River between June and September the Rivers dominant bear 4 the munch since then Berry 747 has become the largest brown bear on Earth coming in at a substantial 1400 lb. his opponent Bear 901 has been working to refine her craft of fishing social skills and defending her fishing territory, bear 901 may also be expecting her first litter of cubs this early winter. To be healthy enough to give red she must put on as much weight as possible during the next summer months creating a massive motivation for her growth this season… maybe we’ll see Bear 901 top Bear 747 next season after she gives birth to her cubs.
