Fat Bear Week start delayed after big bear kills rival: NPR

According to the National Park Service, Bear 402 was “the mother of at least eight litters, more than any other bear currently on the Brooks River.” The bear, seen here fishing with her yearlings in 2019, was killed Monday in a fight with another bear.

N. Boak/NPS Photo

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N. Boak/NPS Photo

Fat Bear Week, a celebration of brown bears' survival instincts, brought a grisly reminder of the animals' predatory nature on Monday when a male bear (469) killed a female (402) in Alaska's Katmai National Park & ​​Preserve.

The disturbing scene was captured by a popular live webcam that follows the bears along the Brooks River.

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

The fatal fight took place around 9:30 a.m. in Alaska as organizers prepared to launch Fat Bear Week, the competition that allows fans to crown the bear that has successfully gained the most weight while preparing for their prepare annual hibernation cycle. Following the shocking death of 402, the 2024 series reveal has been moved from Monday to Tuesday at 7pm ET.

As stunned viewers watched online, the two bears engaged in a long and violent battle in the deep water at the river's mouth – a clash that ultimately ended with one bear dying and the other dragging her body to shore.

“Very difficult to see. I mean, 402 is a beloved bear to every single one of us,” Mike Fitz, the resident naturalist for the webcam company Explore.org, said in a video in which he and two Katmai Park experts discussed the incident.

“Honestly, I think we’re all a little speechless,” Fitz said.

Editor's note: The video below shows the bears' deadly fight and a discussion of their actions.

Both bears have been known to rangers for more than 20 years. 402 was “the mother of at least eight litters, more than any other bear currently in Brooks River.” That includes two litters of four cubs each,” the national park said last year. In 2013, 469 won fans by overcoming a serious injury to his left hind leg and foot to fish in Brooks Falls. A year earlier he was seen with the remains of an unknown bear.

Fitz and the other experts – Naomi Boak of the nonprofit Katmai Conservancy and Sarah Bruce, a ranger at Katmai National Park – said that while it was not clear what triggered the collision, 469 viewed 402 as potential prey.

“Whatever caused this initially triggered a predatory or sustained predatory response in 469,” Boak said in the video, noting that 402, a known large female, was almost as big as 469. “So she fought, she fought and kept fighting.” fighting.”

The recordings indicate that 402 drowned as a result of being overwhelmed, Fitz said.

“This is very difficult to observe and understand,” Boak said. She added: “We can sense these things, but we can't anthropomorphize what's going on and assume that a bear's behavior is the same as our behavior. “It's very different, these are wild animals.”

For those who enjoy watching the bears in Katmai Park, the killing of 402 bears by 469 is a reminder of a harsh reality: While the gigantic brown bears are unaware of their role in an annual online roundup, they are also apex predators are very aware of the competition for food and space – and raw calories.

“He's essentially a predator towards this other bear, he's a predator towards this female bear,” Bruce said.

“We know that at this time of year bears are in this state of hyperphagia and will eat anything they can,” she added, referring to a condition described as an insatiable urge to eat food.

“I don’t know why a bear would want to expend so much energy killing another bear for food,” Bruce said. “It is unusual to see a bear eating another bear. But it’s not completely out of the question.”

In response to viewers' questions, Bruce said that 402's body was spotted in the forest after the fatal battle, where 469 apparently dumped it as a food storage facility. But another natural law soon came into force: hierarchy. A dominant bear named 32 Chunk displaced 469 and took over the carcass, Bruce said.

As for the future of 469, Bruce said the Rangers would not intervene.

“The park will not harm the bear, 469,” she said. “You know, it’s just part of bear behavior and bear life. It's one of the sadder parts of it, one of the harder parts of it. “But we'll definitely allow nature to take its course.”