The winner of Fat Bear Week has finally been crowned – and she’s no stranger to the title.
Voters chose 128 Grazer, a mother bear who won Fat Bear Week last year, and whose cub was recently killed by her last remaining opponent in the competition, 32 Chunk.
The competition, which started a decade ago, allows viewers to watch live cameras of Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve and pick their favourite brown bear after the animals have beefed up on salmon in preparation for winter.
In a post on X, explore.org, the nature network that runs the contest, said 128 Grazer was “the first working mom to ever be crowned champion”.
In July, two of Grazer’s cubs were swept over a waterfall, where Chunk – the most dominant bear on the river – attacked them both, according to explore.org. One later succumbed to its injuries.
The two bears were later pitted against each other in Fat Bear Week’s competition, with Grazer eventually coming out on top, winning more than double Chunk’s votes with more than 71,000 votes.
A highly defensive mother bear, the 20-year-old Grazer is raising her third litter.
“Her fearless nature is respected by other bears who often choose to give her space instead of risking a confrontation. This elevates Grazer’s rank in the bear hierarchy above almost all bears except for the largest males,” her bear profile states.
Fat Bear Week came after a grisly series of events this year. The beginning of the contest was delayed by one day after a female bear was killed by a male bear on camera.
Each year, 12 bears are chosen for the Fat Bear Week bracket and fans can vote online to decide the winner.
Grazer also beat Chunk in 2023, when nearly 1.4 million votes were cast from more than 100 countries, according to Katmai Conservancy and explore.org.