The Fat Bear Week 2025 ended with the victory of 32 Chunk, the brown bear considered for some time “the most dominant of the river”. Despite a jaw fracture suffered at the beginning of the season, probably during a clash with a rival in the middle of the love season, Chunk managed to maintain his role as leader and turn into the champion of this year.
The competition, born in the Katmai National Park in Alaska, attracts millions of votes from all over the world every year and rewards the bear which best represents the preparation for winter through weight gain. This year over 1.5 million votes arrived, the absolute record for the event.
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Chunk against everyone
Chunk’s story hit the public: appeared in June with an evident wound, many doubted that it could fish salmon and accumulate enough reserves for hibernation. Instead, the bear not only resisted, but gained a huge amount of weight until it touches more than 540 kilos.
His path led him to overcome historical rivals such as the elderly Bear 856, who arrived second with over 63 thousand votes, and to dethrone the female 128 Grazer, queen of the last two editions, which however saw his puppy win the category of children.
Chunk’s victory was not only a question of kilos. His ability to adapt to the new condition, avoiding direct clashes and still finding the way of dominating fishing, has transformed it into a symbol of strength and survival.
The organizers recall that “a fat bear is a successful bear”, ready to overcome months of ibernation without risk. The case of Chunk was also celebrated as a universal message: transforming a weakness into a victory.
The epic of the Fat Bear Week continues
If in the past Chunk had been seen as the “villain” of the river for conflicts with other bears, this year his history of redemption made him a true hero in the eyes of the public. With almost 100 thousand votes, the online community has crowned it with this edition, showing that even in a world dominated by wild nature, a narrative of hope can be born Fat Bear Week, which began in 2014, thus confirms itself as not only an event dedicated to ecology and the protection of the habitat, but also a celebration of resilience, adaptation and survival.
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