Andrea Powell
Voting has closed for this 12 months’s Fats Bear Week and the winner has been introduced.
Katmai Nationwide Park & Protect and Discover.org host an annual Fats Bear Week exhibiting off a number of the park’s largest brown bears who’re gorging themselves on salmon making ready for winter hibernation. They shared, “Throughout hibernation, bears don’t eat or drink and lose one-third of their physique weight.”
Bears of all ages and sizes competed within the on-line bracket competitors exhibiting off not solely their spectacular weight acquire but additionally their survival abilities over the previous a number of months.

After 1.7 million votes have been tallied all through the week, a champion was topped – Chunk 32. The estimated 1,200-pound-plus bear had a tough 12 months however managed not solely to outlive however thrive.

He appeared in June with a damaged jaw that park officers imagine occurred throughout a battle throughout mating season. He managed to determine easy methods to eat whereas his jaw continued to heal by itself. Park officers don’t administer veterinary care and let the bears reside a very wild life.
Katmai Conservancy posted, “Chunk is a main instance of what it means to be resilient. Going through a damaged jaw all through the summer season, no one knew what the season would seem like for him, however there isn’t a denying that he defied all expectations. Chunk received fats, and as we all know, a fats bear is a bear able to survive the winter. It is what we have a good time with Fats Bear Week. And right this moment, we have a good time Chunk.”

Chunk is that this 12 months’s winner, however all of the competing bears are winners as a result of “fats bears are profitable bears” that can survive the winter. Be taught extra concerning the park and how one can assist by visiting their web site.