Alaska's Fat Bear Week gets off to a late start after participant is killed by another bear | Alaska

Let the chunk begin.

Voting begins Wednesday at the annual Fat Bear Week competition at Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska. Viewers choose their favorite from a dozen brown bears fattened to survive the winter.

Now in its 10th year, the competition celebrates the resilience of the 2,200 brown bears that live in the protected area on the Alaska Peninsula, which stretches from the southwest corner of the state to the Aleutian Islands. The animals feed on the abundant sockeye salmon that return to the Brooks River, sometimes devouring the fish in mid-air as they attempt to overcome a small waterfall and get upstream to spawn.

Organizers introduced this year's participants on Tuesday – a day late – because an expected participant, a woman named Bear 402, was killed in a fight by a male bear on Monday. Cameras set up around the park, which provided live-streamed footage of the bears throughout the summer, captured the kill, as well as a male bear killing a cub that had slipped over the waterfall in late July.

“National parks like Katmai protect not only the wonders of nature, but also harsh realities,” park spokesman Matt Johnson said in a statement. “Every bear seen on the webcams is competing with others for survival.”

The nonprofit explore.org, which broadcasts the uncensored bear cams and helps organize Fat Bear Week, hosted a live conversation about the death on Tuesday. A Katmai National Park ranger, Sarah Bruce, said it was not known why the bears began fighting.

“We love to celebrate the success of bears with full stomachs and plenty of body fat, but the ferocity of bears is real,” said Mike Fitz, resident naturalist at explore.org. “The risks they face are real. Their lives can be hard and their deaths can be painful.”

This year there are twelve Bears, eight of whom will play in the first round and four of whom will receive byes in the second round. They all gained a lot of weight throughout the summer.

Adult male brown bears typically weigh around 270 to 410 kg in mid-summer. When they are ready for hibernation after feeding on migrating and spawning salmon – each eats up to 30 fish per day – large males can weigh well over 1,000 pounds (454 kg). Females are about a third smaller.

Bear 909 Jr, who won the Fat Bear Junior competition for the second time last week, will face Bear 519, a young female, in the first round. The winner will face defending champion Grazer, who is considered one of the most impressive bears on the river.

In another first-round match, Bear 903, an eight-year-old male who was nicknamed Gully after developing a fondness for seagulls, faces Bear 909, the mother of Bear 909 Jr. The winner will face a two-time champion Bear who was so big that he was given the number of the equally huge Bear 747 aircraft.

In the other half of the tournament, the first round features Bear 856, an older male and one of the most recognizable bears on the river due to his large body, challenging a newcomer, Bear 504, a mother bear raising her second known litter. The winner will face perhaps the river's largest bear, 32 Chunk, a 20-year-old man who once devoured 42 salmon in 10 hours. He is estimated to weigh more than 1,200 pounds.

The final game of the first round pits Bear 151, a once-playful young bear nicknamed Walker who now shows more dominance, against Bear 901, a solo female who has returned to the river after her first throw did not survive. The winner faces bear 164, nicknamed Bucky Dent because of an indentation in his forehead.

Voting in this year's tournament round is possible until October 8th.

Last year more than 1.3 million votes were cast.