Chunky champion crowned in Katmai’s Fat Bear Week competition

Grazer, the winner of Fat Bear Week 2023. Photo: National Park Service

'She’s beauty and she’s grace, she stuffed so much salmon in her face,' said the National Park Service

PARK CITY, Utah — 128 Grazer has been named the winner of one of the fiercest competitions on the The Last Frontier, Katmai National Park and Preserve’s Fat Bear Week.

Grazer was introduced to Alaska’s Brooks River in 2005 as a young cub, and is known for her incredible fishing abilities. It’s these skills that likely helped to land her the top spot in this year’s competition.

“She can fish successfully in many locations including the lip, far pool, and plunge pools of Brooks Falls,” said Grazer’s Fat Bear Week bio. “She can chase down fleeing salmon in many parts of the river or patiently scavenge dead and dying salmon after they spawn. Grazer will also fish overnight at Brooks Falls.”

Grazer has raised two litters of cubs, and has been known to confront or attack much larger bears in order to protect them. This behavior has earned her a reputation in the Brooks River, and she has been able to maintain a high level of dominance even at times she is single.

“Grazer’s combination of skill and toughness makes her one of Brooks River’s most formidable, successful, and adaptable bears,” said Grazer’s Fat Bear Week bio.

The runner-up in this year’s competition was 32 Chunk, a bear first identified in the Brooks River in 2007. In 2023 Chunk ranked among the river’s largest and most dominant males.

Park City-based Kodiak Cakes pledged to donate 10 cents per vote in the 2023 Fat Bear Week competition to the Vital Grounds grant-making program that supports bears and bear habitat in Katmai. Yesterday the company announced that voters raised $100,000 in donations.

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