After a week of intense public voting, Backpack, a brown bear celebrated for his docile nature, was crowned the champion of Alaska’s Fat Bear Week. The nonprofit organization behind the event announced on Tuesday that Backpack garnered more than 100,000 votes, narrowly defeating Bear 910 with just over 50 percent of the poll.
This year marked the 12th iteration of the contest, which highlights the survival strategies of the approximately 2,200 brown bears inhabiting Katmai National Park and Preserve. Originally launched in 2014, Fat Bear Week serves as an educational tool to raise awareness about coastal brown bears, the regional relatives of grizzly bears.
The tournament featured 16 bears competing in a single-elimination bracket. All voting was conducted online, with the final results declared on Tuesday evening. Participants observed the bears via livestream cameras operated by explore.org before casting their votes.
Last year’s winner, Bear 32, widely known as Chunk, weighed an estimated 1,200 pounds at the time of his triumph. However, he was eliminated early in this year’s competition by Bucky, who later fell to Backpack, officially designated as Bear 89.
Backpack’s lineage traces back to Holly, a former Fat Bear Week champion who brought him to the Brooks River as a cub in 2006. He earned his nickname from the habit of riding on his mother’s back while swimming. Contestants and fans have noted his reputation as a “gentle giant,” observing that he rarely displays aggression toward other bears, preferring to rest on rocks and observe his surroundings rather than engage in physical confrontations.
The competition underscores the biological imperatives driving the bears’ seasonal behavior. During late June, salmon begin returning to the Brooks River, allowing bears to consume vast quantities of food to build fat reserves for winter hibernation. Adult males typically weigh between 600 and 900 pounds in midsummer but can exceed 1,000 pounds after the salmon feast. Bears may consume up to 30 fish daily during this period, aiming to store a year’s worth of nutrition within six months.
During hibernation, bears do not eat or drink and may lose up to one-third of their body weight. This year’s contest also recognized five bear families, reflecting a record high in family units at the river. Mother bears face the dual challenge of protecting their cubs while ensuring they consume enough calories to survive the winter. Cubs are particularly vulnerable to attacks from other bears due to territorial disputes and food scarcity.
Bear 132, accompanied by her three spring cubs, reached the semifinals before being eliminated by Bear 910. Bear 132, the daughter of former champion 409 Beadnose, is considered one of the most experienced mothers at Brooks River. Earlier in the summer, one of her cubs became separated from the family for several days but was eventually reunited with them.
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