After a week of fierce competition, Backpack emerged victorious as Fat Bear Week champion, the heftiest bear in Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve. The nonprofit running the longstanding contest announced on Tuesday that the bear, known for his pacifist nature, was the winner with more than 100,000 votes, giving him a close win over Bear 910 with just over 50 percent of the poll. The contest, which is in its 12th year, celebrates the resilience of the 2,200 brown bears that live in the preserve on the Alaska Peninsula, which extends from the state’s southwest corner towards the Aleutian Islands.
Fat Bear Week was started in 2014 as an interactive way to inform the public about brown bears, the coastal cousins of grizzlies. Last year’s winner, Chunk — known officially as Bear 32 — clinched his victory at an estimated 1,200 pounds. He was handily defeated in the first round of competition this year by Bucky, who went on to lose a face-off against Backpack, known officially as Bear 89.
The event this year featured 16 bears vying for the heavyweight title in a single-elimination, bracket-style tournament. All voting is done online, and the winner was declared on Tuesday evening after the final poll closed. The public could watch the bears on explore.org’s livestream cameras before deciding on their favourite.
These bears gorge themselves on the abundant salmon that return to the Brooks River starting in late June. It is there that they can stuff themselves to accumulate the fat reserves they will need to survive the winter. To be featured in the contest, the bears must frequent the area around the river.
Backpack is the son of former Fat Bear Week champion Holly, who introduced him to the Brooks River when he was a first-year cub in 2006. His name was inspired by his habit of climbing onto his mother’s back when they swam the river. This year’s fans cheered on Backpack in the contest’s Instagram comments, noting his lineage and reputation as a gentle giant.
Backpack uses his “quiet strength” rather than brawling and is often seen in wildlife cameras sitting on a rock downstream, appearing to take in the scenery around him. He defeated Bear 910, who is also the daughter of a former champion: 409 Beadnose. Adult male brown bears typically weigh between 600 and 900 pounds (270-410kg) in midsummer.
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