The winner of Fat Bear Week 2025 has been chosen!

KATMAI NATIONAL PARK, Alaska (KTUU) - The people have spoken! The burliest bruin carrying the thickest and chubbiest tummy of all is none other than bear 32 — affectionately known as “Chunk.”

In the final round of the annual Fat Bear Week contest on Tuesday, Chunk earned himself 96,350 votes, beating bear 856, who finished with 63,725 votes, according to Katmai National Park officials.

“They have no idea that they’re pitted against each other right now in this virtual thing that we call Fat Bear Week,” said Sarah Bruce, Katmai National Park Visual Information Specialist. “But they’re both highly successful, highly skilled bears.

“They look very well set up to survive the winter.”

Chunk is an adult male grizzly estimated to be about 1,200 pounds.

This summer, he broke his jaw due to what park officials say may have been a fight with another bear.

After that, Chunk had to relearn how to catch salmon, and has adapted pretty well, changing up his fishing strategy.

His victory is a special one; neither he nor bear 856 had ever been crowned victor before.

“It’s really exciting to see two bears who have never been crowned Fat Bear winner before because there’s just so many bears on the river that are so fat,” Bruce said.

The voters agreed he’s been successful in gaining all that weight to survive the winter.

Bruce said this year’s increase in popularity for Fat Bear Week has also brought attention to the importance of America’s national parks.

“We celebrate these fat bears because they’re an indicator of a healthy ecosystem,” Bruce explained. “We have these intact ecosystems that have been healthy for as long as we have known about them.

“It’s really great that we can use Fat Bear Week as a way to spread the messages of conservation and keeping lands public for the people.”

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