After three years of finishing in second place, a brown bear named Chunk finally claimed the crown in Alaska’s Fat Bear Week, and this time, it’s personal.
Chunk, officially known as Bear 32, swept the final round of the popular online contest and beat out Bear 856 to become this year’s fattest champion. Contest organizers estimated his weight at a mighty 1,200 pounds.
“Despite his broken jaw, he remains one of the biggest, baddest bears at Brooks River,” said Mike Fitz, a naturalist for explore.org, who believes Chunk likely hurt his jaw in a fight with another bear.
Fat Bear Week lets fans follow 12 of Katmai National Park’s brown bears through live webcams as they feast on salmon in preparation for hibernation. More than 1.5 million people voted this year as the bears fished along Brooks River about 300 miles from Anchorage.
It’s been a record-breaking year for salmon too. Around 200,000 made their way up Brooks River, creating what Katmai Conservancy spokesperson Naomi Boak called “the largest glut of salmon in the living memories of the bears or the humans who have been running the Fat Bear Week contest since 2014.”
That abundance made for a surprisingly calm season. “It decreased conflict in the river since salmon were readily available,” Boak said.
Viewers compared before and after photos of the bears, lean at the start of summer and gloriously round by the end, voting based on size, story, or simple charm.
Chunk’s path to victory hasn’t been without heartbreak. In 2024, he famously clashed with mother bear 128 Grazer after one of her cubs slipped into his fishing spot at Brooks Falls. Grazer won the hearts of voters that year and took home the Fat Bear title, leaving Chunk just shy of first place again.
This year, though, the underbear finally triumphed. With his powerful frame and unshakable spirit, Chunk earned the love and votes of fans all around the world.
“Despite his broken jaw, he remains one of the biggest, baddest bears at Brooks River,” Fitz said.
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