This year’s Alaskan salmon run has—absolutely, claws-itively—been a boon for brown bears.
Fat Bear Week, an annual competition inaugurated in 2014, was launched to celebrate brown bears that feast upon the bountiful sockeye salmon that make the perilous migration upriver to spawn every year at Katmai National Park.
The top prize, officiated by the park staff, is awarded to the bear who bulks up the most—the title signifies an ecosystem that is currently thriving.
Ultimately, this jetliner of a bear, 747, landed the title for a second time this year. He garnered a whopping 68,105 votes from online participants, while 901’s sizable yet insufficient 56,876 tally fell short of the mark.
The hulking champ could weigh as much as 1,400 pounds, experts say.
The victory of 747 mustn’t overshadow the other comment-worthy fat bears of the competition, though. Other participants, designated by number and garnered nicknames, include: 32 “Chunk,” 128 “Grazer,” 435 “Holly,” and favored contender 480 “Otis the GOAT.” But in the end, they failed to measure up in the salmon-gorging department.
However, the competition did not conclude without scandal.
What would a tournament be nowadays without controversy?
In a fitting twist, with the mid-term elections less than three weeks off, competition officials announced that they stumbled on alleged voter fraud while tallying the numbers on Twitter.
But the park promptly followed up that they successfully discerned the real votes from the fake ones, and then declared 747 the competition’s winner.
Ultimately, this giant-size title aims to celebrate a thriving ecosystem—unlike in humans, accumulating fat reserves in bears signifies fantastic health that can help assure their survival; the annual feast helps them pack on the pounds for winter hibernation.
