Bad News for Alaska Salmon: It’s Fat Bear Week!

When the US government came within a few hours of shutting down last weekend, alarmed citizens across the republic wondered if the shutdown would cancel a crucial government function: Fat Bear Week.

But Congress averted that catastrophe, at least for a few weeks, which means Fat Bear Week – the annual gorging that goes on in Alaska’s Katmai National Park culminating in the crowning of a champion bear – is on. Had the government shut down the brown bears would have continued stuffing themselves with sockeye salmon, but the park would have turned off its webcams and canceled the contest in which we select His or Her Royal Fatness.

The bears in Katmai are already big. In mid-summer the males weigh between 700 and 900 pounds; by October, these big boys will put on as much as 500 more pounds. In Katmai’s Brooks River, the bears gather to feast on sockeye salmon in order to pack away enough fat to survive winter hibernation. The National Park Service launched Fat Bear Week in 2014 (then called Fat Bear Tuesday), drawing in a few thousand voters to participate; now more than a million voters cast ballots for their favorite fatties.

What to look for in a candidate? “Vote for the bear you believe best exemplifies fatness,” advises the website where ballots are cast. Clearly that’s a subjective criterion, so some voters will go with the bear that beefs up the most over the gorging season, so younger bears have an advantage, as they tend to present a more dramatic before-and-after metamorphosis.

Other voters favor underdogs. A mother bear tasked with fattening up both herself and her cubs are annual favorites, as is an older solitary bear, who “can have difficulty finding access to its preferred fishing spots due to competition with larger and younger bears.”

The full skinny on fat bears can be found at the website Explore. You can witness the ursine crapulence in real time on the live webcams.

Photo credit: Katmai National Park and Preserve

National Park Service