A deadly attack shakes up the bracket reveal for 2024's Fat Bear Week contest

128 Grazer was last year's runaway winner the the Fat Bear Week contest. Who will take the top spot in 2024? It's up to the online voters! (F. Jimenez / NPA Photo via CNN Newsource)

The bracket for 2024’s Fat Bear Week contest was revealed Tuesday night, but only after a deadly bear-on-bear attack at Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve on Monday delayed the unveiling.

In what’s become a bona fide fall ritual, public voting in the annual Fat Bear contest is scheduled to start at noon ET Wednesday. The popular contest is observing its 10th anniversary this year – but comes with a stark reminder that the harsh laws of nature are always in play in the southern Alaskan wilderness at Katmai.

Members of the public will get to weigh in on their favourite bear contestants online, and voting will continue through October 8. A winner is slated to be announced that evening as well.

Katmai said on its website that almost 1.4 million votes were cast for the bears from more than 100 countries in the 2023 contest, which was won by a defensive mama bear named 128 Grazer.

How the contest works

Anyone who has ever joined a March Madness betting pool for the NCAA basketball tournament will be familiar with the contest’s brackets-style competition.

In this single-elimination format, the bears vie for votes daily in head-to-head matchups. The bear collecting the most online votes advances to the next round.

Ready to vote for your favorite fattened bear? Cast your vote at fatbearweek.org.

A preliminary contest for Fat Bear Junior has already been held, with Bear 909 Jr. taking the top spot.

In this screenshot from a live-streamed video, two bears in Katmai National Park fight on October 1. (Explore Bears and Bison / NPS via CNN Newsource)

The bear attack at Katmai

Every year, bears gather at Katmai’s Brooks Falls and downstream on Brooks River to gorge on salmon and fatten up before their long and arduous winter hibernation. The public can watch the fishing expeditions on live cams at Explore.org,  and it can make for fascinating viewing.

But people watching Monday might have gotten more than they bargained for when Bear No. 469, a male, approached, attacked and eventually killed Bear No. 402, a female that was almost as large, in the Brooks River.

That attack delayed the posting of the brackets by a day while park and contest officials regrouped.

The National Park Service and Explore.Org have posted an edited version of the footage along with commentary on YouTube.

In the video commentary, the experts were not sure what caused the attack but said it was unusual. No. 402 is seen trying to get away from the predatory male bear but was unable to do so. The experts said they think she died by being drowned.

“We love the bears, but again it’s a clear reminder of how big and strong and powerful these animals actually are,” said Mike Fitz, the resident naturalist with Explore.org, in the commentary. “402 is a beloved bear by each and every one of us, and I honestly, you know, I think we’re all in a little bit of a loss of words. … This is really difficult to see.”

Temporary fishing ban

There have also been some problematic human-bear interaction issues along the Brooks River in recent weeks.

Katmai National Park employees witnessed four incidents between September 18 to 29 in which bears received fish from anglers, according to a separate NPS news release.

That has resulted in the Brooks River corridor being closed to all anglers except subsistence users below Brooks Falls until October 31, unless the park superintendent rescinds the order earlier.

Bears that receive food from people can lose their fear of humans, resulting in a potentially dangerous situation for both, NPS said.