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After going head to head with the bear who killed her cub, Grazer has been crowned the champion of Fat Bear Week 2024 for the second year in a row!
The annual winner of the competition, which was held from Oct. 2 to Oct. 8 this year, is determined in a bracket-style tournament. Users vote daily to decide which brown bears at Alaska’s Katmai National Park — who are busy feasting on salmon to pack on winter pounds this time of year — deserve the top spot.
To determine which Katmai bear “best exemplifies fatness and success in brown bears” this year, over 1 million votes were cast.
This image provided by the National Park Service shows bear 32 Chunk at Katmai National Park in Alaska on Sept. 19, 2024.
For the second year running, Grazer (No. 128) and Chunk (No. 32) faced off in the finals, with the fierce mama bear ultimately beating out “the most dominant bear on the river” by a hefty margin, according to explore.org, where the voting takes place.
Known to be one of the most formidable and fearless bears at Katmai — and a fan-favorite among voters and a force to behold — the 2024 Fat Bear Week champion earned a total of 71,248 points in the final round, while Chunk finished with 30,468.
The landslide victory comes months after the runner-up, who is recognizable from his low-hanging belly and muzzle scar, killed one of Grazer’s cubs this summer.
T. Carmack/National Park Service; E. Johnston/National Park Service
Chunk killed the cub in July after two of the mama bear’s cubs from her third litter were “swept over the falls” of Brooks River and carried toward Chunk, according to explore.org. The dominant male bear attacked one of the cubs, and Glazer wasn’t able to reach it in time.
Following the attack, which was captured on the park’s cameras, the cub died from its injuries.
“Her story this year demonstrates that even the most skilled and formidable mother bears experience hardship and loss,” the champion’s official competition bio reads.
The surviving cub, meanwhile, followed in its mom’s winning footsteps, placing second in the Fat Bear Junior contest last month.
T. Carmack/National Park Service; M. Carenza/National Park Service
Another death rocked this year’s competition after another female bear who was supposed to be a contestant was killed by a male bear the day before tournament brackets were scheduled to drop, delaying their release by a day.
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In addition to rival Chunk, Glazer also beat out Fat Bear Week competitors Walker (151), Bucky (164), Gully (903) and unnamed bears 747, 504, 519, 856, 901, 909.
According to the National Park Service, the mama bear’s victory isn’t just about the crown, title or even revenge on Chunk. Rather, it’s about exemplifying “the richness of this area, a wild region that is home to more brown bears than people and the largest, healthiest runs of sockeye salmon left on the planet.”
