The bracket for 2024’s Fat Bear Week contest was revealed Tuesday night, but only after a deadly bear-on-bear attack at Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve on Monday delayed the unveiling.
In what’s become a bona fide fall ritual, public voting in the annual Fat Bear contest is scheduled to start at noon ET Wednesday.
A preliminary contest for Fat Bear Junior has already been held, with Bear 909 Jr. taking the top spot.
402, a female that was almost as large, in the Brooks River.
… This is really difficult to see.” Temporary fishing ban There have also been some problematic human-bear interaction issues along the Brooks River in recent weeks.
A deadly bear-on-bear attack at Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve on Monday postponed the unveiling of the bracket for the Fat Bear Week competition in 2024, which took place Tuesday night.
Wednesday at noon ET is when the public voting for the annual Fat Bear contest begins, as has become a true fall tradition. This year marks the contest’s tenth anniversary, but it also serves as a sobering reminder that the harsh laws of nature still apply in the southern Alaskan wilderness at Katmai.
Voting is open to the public until October 8 and allows them to rank their favorite bear competitors online. That evening, there will also be an announcement of the winner.
Nearly 1.4 million votes were cast for the bears from over 100 countries in the 2023 competition, which was won by a protective mother bear by the name of 128 Grazer, according to Katmai’s website.
The process of the competition.
The competition in the contest is bracket-style, as anyone who has ever participated in an NCAA basketball tournament betting pool will know.
The bears compete daily in head-to-head matches for votes under this single-elimination format. The bear that gets the most votes online moves on to the next round.
Are you prepared to select your favorite oversized bear? Visit fatbearweek . org to make your vote.
Bear 909 Jr. participated in a Fat Bear Junior preliminary competition previously. gaining the lead.
Katmai’s bear attack.
Every year, bears congregate at Katmai’s Brooks Falls and further down the Brooks River to feast on salmon and gain mass in preparation for their protracted hibernation in the winter. Live feeds of the fishing expeditions are available to the public at Explore.org, and they can make for entertaining viewing.
However, viewers on Monday may have received more than they paid for when Bear No. Bear No. was killed when a male, 469, attacked him. 402, a nearly identically sized female, in the Brooks River.
Due to the attack, park and contest officials had to regroup, which caused the brackets to be posted one day later than planned.
Examine and the National Park Service. Org has uploaded an edited version of the video to YouTube complete with commentary.
Experts in the video commentary stated that although they did not know what caused the attack, it was unusual. Not at all. A video shows 402 attempting, but failing, to escape the rapacious male bear. Experts stated that they believe she drowned to death.
Mike Fitz, resident naturalist with Explore . org, commented, “We love the bears, but again it’s a clear reminder of how big and strong and powerful these animals actually are.”. Every single one of us adores 402, and to be completely honest, I think we’re all at a kind of wordlessness. It’s really hard to see this. “.
temporary prohibition on fishing.
Along the Brooks River, there have also been some troubling incidents in recent weeks involving interactions between humans and bears.
According to a separate NPS news release, four incidents involving bears receiving fish from anglers were observed by Katmai National Park employees between September 18 and September 29.
Due to this, unless the park superintendent revokes the order sooner, the Brooks River corridor will remain closed to all anglers until October 31 with the exception of subsistence users below Brooks Falls.
According to NPS, bears who are fed by people may grow accustomized to humans and lose their fear of them, putting both of them in danger.
