It’s Fat Bear Week. Meet this year’s heavyset hopefuls - Alaska Public Media

Twitter LinkedIn Email Bluesky C. Loberg / National Park Service Chunk, also known as number 32, is a dominant bear on the Brooks River, according to his National Park Service biography. Chunk was last year's weighty winner. Fat Bear Week is back, and this year’s bears are really chunky.

The brown bears in Katmai National Park and Preserve have been bulking up this summer on what officials say are unusually large sockeye salmon runs. Starting Tuesday, you can vote online for the one you want to be crowned the chubby champion.

Think of Fat Bear Week as March Madness, but swap in thousand-pound bears for basketball teams.

The bigger the bear is, the better, said Katmai park ranger Sarah Bruce.

“There is no such thing as too fat of a bear,” she said. “The fatter a bear is, the healthier that bear is.”