"The annual competition champions the Alaskan brown bears of Katmai National Park and Preserve."
"America’s most beloved bear-based competition is just weeks away.
Fat Bear Week, an online vote conducted via a single-elimination bracket, will take place from Sept. 23 to 30, the National Park Service announced Thursday. Fat Bear Junior, or as NPS called it, the “chubby cubby appetizer,” will take place on Sept. 18 and 19.
For the uninitiated, Fat Bear Week champions the brown bears of Katmai National Park and Preserve as they complete their transformations from scrawny to elephantine for hibernation. With the internet watching via live Bear Cams, the contestants go beast mode on the millions of sockeye salmon that run from Bristol Bay down the Brooks River."
Natalie B. Compton reports for the Washington Post September 4, 2025.
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