Every year for the last decade Alaska has hosted a week-long event within their national park system to celebrate one of the most prominent animals in the state, the bear. This week-long event is known as Fat Bear Week. The main event, as you may guess, consists of weighing in some of Alaska’s National Parks’ biggest bears, holding a vote, and then awarding the fan favorite of the event as the champion of the week. The event’s main days will begin next week, spanning from October 2nd to October 8th; however, on September 26th and 27th, the Fat Bear Junior competition will be held.
The Fat Bear Competition is held at Katmai National Park and Preserve.
With the Fat Bear Jr. competition set to begin tomorrow, the four competitors were announced yesterday. The junior level competition consists of cubs that are leading as the state’s chunkiest young bears. Among the contestants that were announced are the winners of the 2022 and 2023 competitions, respectively. While you may be thinking, “they qualify for the junior competition still?” they surprisingly do! The competition follows a set of criteria for what makes a cub and they both still meet those requirements. For example, they have to still be with a sow, or female adult bear, most often the mother, to be considered a cub. On average, cubs leave their sow by around two and a half, but the winner from 2022 has been with an aunt for four years.
Because the voting is all up to the people, there is one cub many expect to take the title of Fat Bear Jr. 2024.
The leader in early guesses is Grazer, the winner of the 2023 competition. Grazer’s cub sibling was killed this past summer. The cub slipped over a waterfall and was killed by an adult male bear and the attack was seen on bear cameras set up around the park. The video footage even captured Grazer finding the other young bear and trying to save him. Given his history, many expect Grazer to win for a second year in a row and continue a trend of being in the lead as he moves into the adult competition in the future.
Voting opens for the junior competition tomorrow. The adult bears will be announced for their competition on September 30th and voting will begin on October 2nd.
