Not just about ‘absolute body size’: The origin story of Fat Bear Week
This image provided by the National Park Service shows bear 901 at the Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska, on Sept. 12, 2025.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - The third and fourth matchups are underway for Fat Bear Week, but how did the annual celebration of burly bruins start?
Mike Fitz, a ranger at Katmai National Park in 2014 when the contest began, was one of the people who got it started.
“Fat is the fuel that powers their ability to survive that time of the year when they’re not eating or drinking,” Fitz explained.
“So I was looking at webcam comments one day. I saw somebody post a photo of the same bear from early summer and late summer, and the person was like, ‘Hey, look how fat this bear got.’
“Something in my brain clicked. And I thought, well, wouldn’t it be kind of fun if we let people decide who they thought was the fattest and most successful Brooks River Bear of the year?”
That first year, they held “Fat Bear Tuesday.”
Today, it’s a full week with more than 1 million votes expected.
“It helps us to recognize ... the efforts that bears go through to get fat,” Fitz said. “And at Brooks River, bears have it pretty good, let’s be honest. Like they can, a lot of them can kind of sit and wait for the salmon to come to them. But that doesn’t mean they don’t face individual challenges in their lives.”
He mentioned an older bear who has had to change his strategies to survive.
And yes, he does have a favorite bear in this year’s competition: bear 32 Chunk.
“I think he is one of the frontrunners in Fat Bear Week. He’s one of the biggest bears on Brooks River, but he also broke his jaw in June sometime,” Fitz said. “It changes how he fishes. It changes how he eats salmon.
“It changes how he can compete with other bears along Brooks River. So that’s one of the factors, I think, that people need to weigh when they’re considering who to vote for. It’s just not about absolute body size, but also about what the bears persevered through during the summer to get fat.”
Follow along and vote for your favorite at Fat Bear Week.
