It is finally Chunk’s time.
A bear with a broken jaw has won Fat Bear Week, after coming in second for the past three years.
Chunk, who weighs in at an estimated 1,200 pounds and was officially named Bear 32, had the most votes this week and was named the Fat Bear winner.
He beat out 12 other bears in Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve.
“Despite his broken jaw, he remains one of the biggest, baddest bears at Brooks River,” Mike Fitz, explore.org naturalist, said, according to The Associated Press.
Chunk went up against Bear 856.
The park’s staff wrote on Instagram:
“Bear 32 ‘Chunk’ is the boulder-bodied bruiser, built like a freight train with fur. He’s got the girth, the growl, and the glory of past seasons behind him.
“Bear 856 is a heavyweight and a strategic salmon-slayer with the scars and swagger of a true river ruler. He doesn’t just eat: he commands.”
Bear 856 got to the finals by beating out two-time winner Grazer, who had beaten Chunk in 2023 and 2024 for the title those years, The New York Times reported.
Bear 856 had 63,725 votes, but Chunk won with 92,350.
About 1.5 million votes were cast in this year’s contest. They were able to see before and after images of each of the bears. The after photos were from after the bruins gorged on salmon from the Brooks River, preparing for hibernation.
The bears’ weights were not determined by trying to get the massive animals on a scale; instead, LIDAR, or a type of laser technology, was used to get an estimate.
Some fans didn’t worry about the weight and used their looks or backstory to determine who they were voting for, the AP said.
Fat Bear Week has been going on since 2014 and was started to educate people about brown bears, the AP reported.
To see all of the winners, click here.
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