Fabulous Fat Bear Week!

Fat Bear Week, the annual competition voted on by the public to find the worldʼs fattest bear, just concluded on September 29th. The group of bears competing for the fattest bear title resides at Katmai National Park in Alaska. These bears have been packing on the pounds with salmon as they prepare for hibernation from October through early April. This yearʼs crowned champion is Bear #89, nicknamed “Backpack.”

The yearly Alaskan tournament began in 2014 by National Park Service ranger Mike Fitz as a way to interactively engage viewers and educate them on both the brown bears and the rich ecosystem of Katmai National Park. The general public is given the opportunity to watch the bears live on the official Fat Bear Week website at explore.org. Every fall, viewers from across the country tune in to the daily wanderings and bulk season of the Katmai bears.

The competition consists of eleven bears and five bear families that began the season at an average of 750 pounds and end at around 1,000 pounds. This yearʼs crown holder, Backpack, has a heartwarming story. His mother, Holly, is the 2019 victor and introduced Backpack to the Brooks River when he was a first-year cub in 2006. In the following year, the cub came back with a significant leg injury and would climb onto his motherʼs back when they would go for a dip in the river, earning the nickname “Backpack.”

Now he can be recognized as a peaceful fighter because of his lack of territorial aggression towards his competitors. Backpack will stand up for himself when necessary, but this bear prefers to use his stealth for fishing. To identify Backpack on the video stream, you can look for a medium-large-sized bear with blond ears and few visible battle wounds and scars.

Even though Backpack had a tough upbringing with his leg injury as a cub, he was still able to preserve and gain enough weight to receive the crown. Next seasonʼs tournament will be entertaining as always, and you can participate in the voting by going to explore.org next fall. Happy Fat Bear Week to all who celebrate and the heartiest of congratulations to Backpack!