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Animals
Ayana Archie, NPR

In a rematch, mama bear Grazer defeats rival that killed her cub to win Fat Bear Week

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In this photo provided by the National Park Service is Grazer, the winner of the 2023 Fat Bear Contest, at Katmai National Park, Alaska on Sept. 14, 2023.
In this photo provided by the National Park Service is Grazer, the winner of the 2023 Fat Bear Contest, at Katmai National Park, Alaska on Sept. 14, 2023.
F. Jimenez | AP via National Park Service

The winner of this year’s Fat Bear Week is a mama bear whose cub was killed by her opponent — a bear she faced off against in last year's voting.

Out of more than a million votes, 128 Grazer won over 32 Chunk, a male bear weighing more than 1,200 pounds. Grazer received more than 70,000 votes, compared to Chunk’s approximately 30,000.

Grazer also won the contest last year, defeating Chunk in 2023.

In July, two of Grazer’s cubs fell over a waterfall in Alaska’s Katmai National Park. They were carried downstream near Chunk, “the most dominant bear on the river,” according to explore.org, the organization that documents the bears using live cameras.

Chunk attacked the cubs and one died from its injuries. The surviving cub was a contestant for the 2024 Fat Bear Junior.

The annual Fat Bear Week honors bears that have sufficiently bulked up in the months before entering hibernation. This year's voting was delayed a week after one of the contestant animals was fatally mauled by a rival bear.

Grazer was brought to Brooks River in Katmai as a cub in 2005.

Copyright 2024, NPR