Chunk, a massive 1,200-pound brown bear with a broken jaw, has won Alaska’s popular Fat Bear Week contest after years of near misses, organizers announced Tuesday.

The annual online competition, held in Katmai National Park and Preserve, draws global attention as viewers watch 12 bears via live webcams and vote in a bracket-style tournament. Known officially as Bear 32, Chunk triumphed over Bear 856 — an older rival without a nickname — in this year’s final.

Despite his jaw injury, believed to have come from a fight, Chunk remains “one of the biggest, baddest bears at Brooks River,” said Mike Fitz, a naturalist with Explore.org. Contest organizers estimated his weight at about 1,200 pounds using laser-based LIDAR scans from earlier years.

The 2024 event proved to be the most popular yet, attracting more than 1.5 million votes. The bears feasted on an unprecedented run of salmon, with Katmai officials estimating some 200,000 fish surged up Brooks River — the largest in recent memory. “That abundance decreased conflict in the river since salmon were readily available,” Katmai Conservancy spokesperson Naomi Boak noted.

In leaner years, fierce battles often break out at Brooks Falls, where salmon leap upstream in tight channels. But this year, fishing spots were so plentiful that even humans were seen casting lines alongside brown bears.

Fat Bear Week, launched in 2014, was designed to educate the public about the lives of brown bears, the coastal cousins of grizzlies. The bears spend summers gorging on salmon to prepare for long, harsh Alaskan winters.

While Chunk has long been a fan favorite, his story also carries controversy. Last year, live cameras captured him attacking and fatally injuring a cub of bear 128 Grazer. Fans later voted Grazer to victory over Chunk, underscoring how personality and backstory can sway voters as much as size.

This year, however, Chunk finally claimed the crown — cementing his place as the 2024 Fat Bear Week champion.

Source:Agency