Alaska’s Fat Bear Week Returns with Champion Chunk Seeking Back-to-Back Title
The annual Fat Bear Week contest in Katmai National Park has opened voting for 16 brown bears, with last year’s winner Chunk aiming to defend his title against rivals such as Gully.
Online voting began Tuesday for Fat Bear Week, the annual competition that pits the largest brown bears of Katmai National Park and Preserve against each other for the title of the heaviest bear. The 12th edition of the event features 16 bears in a single-elimination bracket, with the winner to be announced on Sept. 29. Voters can view the animals on live-stream cameras and compare before-and-after photos that show the bears’ summer leanness and autumn bulk.
Last year’s champion, known as Chunk (Bear 32), weighed an estimated 1,200 pounds in 2025 and is seeking a repeat victory. He will face competitors including Gully (Bear 903), the offspring of two-time champion Grazer. The contest highlights the bears’ seasonal feeding on sockeye salmon in the Brooks River, where they may consume up to 30 fish per day to build fat reserves for winter hibernation.
"Fat bears are successful bears," the nonprofit organization that runs the event states on its website.
Adult male brown bears in the region typically range from 600 to 900 pounds in midsummer and can exceed 1,000 pounds after the salmon feeding season, while females are roughly one-third smaller. Although the bears are not physically weighed for the contest, fans base their votes on visual comparisons and individual stories. To qualify, a bear must regularly frequent the river area.
The competition, launched in 2014, serves as an interactive platform to educate the public about the ecology of coastal brown bears, the Alaskan relatives of grizzlies.