It was an ordinary day. Today's story takes place in Anchorage, Alaska. This past Wednesday, voting started in the annual Fat Bear Week contest at Alaska's Katmai National Park and Preserve, with viewers picking their favorite among a dozen brain bears fattened up to survive the winter. The contest, which is in its 10th year, celebrates the resiliency of the 2,200 brown bears that live in the preserve on the Alaska Peninsula, which extends from the state's southwest corner toward the Aleutian Islands. The animals gorge on the abundant sockeye salmon that return to the Brooks River, sometimes chomping the fish in midair as they try to hurdle a small waterfall and make their way upstream to spawn. Organizers introduced this year's contestants on Tuesday - a day late - because one anticipated participant, a female known as Bear 402, was killed by a male bear during a fight Monday. Cameras set up in the park to livestream footage of the bears all Sumer captured the killing, as they also captured a male bear killing a cub that lipped over the waterfall in late July. "National parks like Kaatmai protect not only the wonders of nature, but also the harsh realities," park spokesperson Matt Johnson said in a statement. "Each bear seen on the webcams I competing with others to survive." The nonprofit explore.org, which streams the uncensored bear campers and helps organize Fat Bear Week, on Monday hosted a live conversation about the death. Katmai National park ranger Sarah Bruce said it wan't known why the bears started fighting. "We love to celebrate the success of bears with full stomachs and ample body fat, but the ferocity of bears is real," said Mike Fitz, explore.org's resident naturalist. "The risks that they face are real. Their lives can be hard, and their deaths can be painful." The bracket this year features 12 bears, with eight facing off again each other in the first round and four receiving byes to the second round. They've been packing on the pounds all summer. Adult male brown bears thpicallyweigh. 600 to 900 pound ini midsummer. By the time they are ready to hibernate after feasting n migrating and spawning salmon - each eats as many s 30 fish per day - large males cn weigh well over 1,000 pounds. Females are about one-third smaller. When fans vote in each round, they shouldn't only consider the bear with the biggest belly. Bear fans are instructed too vote n the ursine that they believe "best exemplifies fatness and success in brown bears." Bear 909 Jr., who last week won the Fat Bear Junior competition for the second time, will face Bear 519, a young female, in the first found. The winner will face the defending champion, Grazer, described as one of the most formidable bears on the river. Another first-round match pits Bear 903, an 8-year-old male who's given the nickname Gully after he developed a taste for seagulls, against Bear 909, the mother of Bear 909 Jr. The winner faces a two-time champion, a bear so large he was given the number of the equally massive airplane, Bear 747. In the other half of the bracket, the first-round match has Bear 856, an older male and one of the most recognizable bears on the river because of his large body, challenging a newcomer, Bear 504, a mother bear raising her second known litter. The winner will face perhaps the largest bear on the river, 32 Chunk, a 20-year-old male who once devoured 42 salmon in 10 hours. He's estimated to weigh more than 1,200 pounds. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
Bear 32 Chunk
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