Fat Bear Week started in 2014 in Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska. The 2025 contest began on September 24 and finished on September 30. People voted online to choose the fattest bear. Katmai, about 300 miles southwest of Anchorage, had over 2,200 brown bears in an area of 6,562 square miles. This year, 12 bears were in the contest, including “128 Junior,” the cub of “Grazer,” who had already won two times. The contest used an elimination system. Eight bears competed in the first round, and the winners faced four other bears that did not compete in the first round. The event showed how bears ate large amounts of salmon in the Brooks River to prepare for the cold winter.

Male bears often weighed 700 to 900 pounds in the summer and could grow to more than 1,000 pounds in autumn. Some reached 1,400 pounds. Female bears were smaller but also had to care for and protect cubs while gaining fat. Voters sometimes chose bears for their behavior, not only their size. In the past, Grazer beat a bigger bear called “Chunk.” Experts said this year’s salmon run was very strong, so the bears were even fatter than before, including one described as “cruise ship” sized.