Fat Bear Week Returns for 12th Year; Public Invited to Crown Fattest Contender
A bracket-style tournament will determine the chubbiest bear in Katmai National Park, with voting opening on September 22.
Fat Bear Week is set to commence for its 12th year, featuring 16 brown bears from Alaska’s Katmai National Park competing for the title of the fattest bear. The public voting period begins September 22 and concludes on September 29, when the champion will be crowned.
The annual contest, coinciding with the first day of fall, celebrates the weight gain of bears as they prepare for winter hibernation. This year's participants include five bear families, two subadult bears, four adult females, and five adult males. Among the contenders is 32 Chunk, the winner from the previous year, who weighed over 1,200 pounds.
Bears gather at the Brooks River each June for the salmon migration, a crucial period for them to accumulate fat reserves. The Fat Bear Week competition assesses each bear's weight gain from late spring to early fall through a series of before-and-after images. The event has gained significant online traction, attracting over a million votes from more than 100 countries last year.
Initially conceived as a single-day Facebook poll by former Katmai National Park ranger Mike Fitz, the contest has steadily grown in popularity. Fitz was inspired by dramatic weight transformations observed in bearcam footage. The first iteration saw 1,700 participants, with voter numbers increasing annually.
According to Katmai ranger Sarah Bruce, the voting process is subjective, with various factors contributing to a bear's suitability for the win. "So many different things can make a bear worthy of the vote," Bruce stated in a recent video announcing the 2026 contestants.
While there is no official prize for the winner, participants and observers can contribute to conservation efforts by donating to the Katmai Conservancy’s Otis Fund. This fund is named in honor of Bear 480, who won the contest multiple times before his passing in 2024. Explore.org, which provides a livestream of the bears, will match donations made between September 22 and October 3.