Bear named Chunk bests hefty competition to win Fat Bear Week

By Dean Murray

The winner of Fat Bear Week has been crowned.

The much-loved contest pits the brown bears of Alaska's Katmai National Park & Preserve against each other as they bulk up for winter hibernation.

This year, the public vote chose Chunk (also known as Bear 32) as their champion with 96,350 votes.

Second place was Bear 856, who gained a respectable 63,725 votes.

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The US National Park Service (NPS) said Tuesday (Sep 30): "And with that, your 2025 Fat Bear Week comes to an end. Thank you to everyone who has voted! For the first time ever, 32 "Chunk" takes home the gold- or should we say red (because of all the salmon he ate)."

They had described Chunk as a "boulder-bodied bruiser, built like a freight train with fur. He’s got the girth, the growl, and the glory of past seasons behind him."

Bear 856 was described as "a heavyweight and a strategic salmon-slayer with the scars and swagger of a true river ruler. He doesn’t just eat: he commands."

The final had been touted by NPS as "no ordinary chonk-off. It’s a battle of legends, a duel of density, a showdown of supreme stuffing."

Fat Bear Week has been running since 2014, making 2025 its 11th year of celebrating the fattening efforts of brown bears in Katmai National Park.