Glazer won for the second time in a storyline more suited to a soap opera than a popularity contest. fat bear contest On Tuesday, he killed a male behemoth that killed his own child this summer.
Glaser defeated Chunk with more than 40,000 votes cast by fans watching live cameras from Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve.
Fans vote online for their favorite stocky contestants in a tournament-style bracket starting with 12 bears. They selected bears that they thought were best prepared for winter by the fat they accumulated over the summer by feeding on sockeye salmon returning to the Brooks River.
The contest praised Glaser in a social media post, calling her “the first working mother ever to win the title.”
Bears often perch on top of river waterfalls, grabbing jumping salmon out of the air as the fish attempt to climb over the falls to spawn upstream.
This is where Glaser’s cub slipped from a waterfall and was killed by Chunk, perhaps the river’s most dominant brown bear. Glazer fought Chunk in an attempt to save the cub, but Chunk later died. The death was captured on live camera.
Another death captured live He was caught on camera just last week, causing a one-day delay in releasing the tournament bracket. Bear 402, a female bear who was supposed to be a participant in this year’s contest, was attacked and killed by a male brown bear on the day the bracket was scheduled to go on sale.
“National parks like Katmai protect not only natural wonders, but also harsh realities,” Matt Johnson of the National Park Service said in a statement to CBS News after Bear 402 was killed. “Each bear seen on the webcam is competing with other bears for survival.”
According to her profile page on explore.org, Glaser has prominent blonde ears and a long, straight muzzle. “She is a formidable presence on Brooks River, respected for her fearless strength and most bears avoid confrontation,” it reads.
Another surviving baby from her third cub placed second in the Fat Bear Junior contest two weeks ago.
Chunk is probably the largest bear on the river, with narrow eyes, dark brown fur and a distinctive scar on his muzzle, his profile says. This year, he used his size to rise to the top of the river hierarchy and secure some of the best fishing spots.
“Chunk’s confidence and aggression paid off as he was able to eat 42 salmon in 10 hours,” it said. “His physical success is evident in his large size.”
Still, it wasn’t enough to beat Glaser. According to the Fat Bear website, Glaser received 71,248 votes, easily beating Chunk, who received 30,468 votes.
Adult male brown bears typically weigh between 600 and 900 pounds in midsummer. By the time they are ready to hibernate after feeding on migrating and spawning salmon, each can eat as many as 30 fish a day, and large males can weigh well over 1,000 pounds. Females are about a third smaller.
The annual contest, which received more than 1.3 million votes last year, celebrates the resilience of the 2,200 brown bears that live in the preserves of the Alaska Peninsula, which stretches from the state’s southwestern tip to the Aleutian Islands.
In addition to live cameras, Katmai has become a must-visit destination, with observation stands built along the river so people can watch the brown bears hunt for salmon.
