Alaska’s Katmai National Park has crowned a new winner in its annual “Fat Bear” competition.
The competition involves online voters determining which of the park’s brown bears look the heaviest as they bulk up before their winter hibernation. This year’s winner was 747 — the bear’s tag number and nickname given his tremendous size.
THIS 747 IS CLEARED FOR LANDING. Introducing your 2022  Fat Bear Week champion. pic.twitter.com/gVCzhYeX5n
— explore.org (@exploreorg) October 12, 2022
The over 20-year-old bear consumed enough wild sockeye salmon to win comfortably over young female challenger 901, totaling 68,105 votes to her 56,876.
The competition wasn’t without a little drama.
Event organizers said that someone tried to stuff the ballot box with fake votes in 747’s semifinal round on Sunday against 435. The eventual champ wound up winning that round 37,940 to 30,430 after organizers said they threw out the fraudulent votes.
The competition has been running since 2014. This is 747’s second time winning, according to Mashable, which quoted one park ranger describing the winner as “more hippopotamus than bear at times.”
Ecologist Mike Fritz told the website that he saw 747 consume 15 whole salmon within a few hours — or the equivalent of about 67,000 calories.
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