Hunger Games-style dramatics delayed the start of this year’s Fat Bear Week contest, which is apparently a thing.
Every year, viewers tune into live cameras at Brooks River in Katmai National Park, Alaska, and vote in a bracket-style tournament for the bear they believe best exemplifies success in preparation for winter hibernation.
One day ahead of this year’s event, though, one bear killed another—and it was all caught on camera. Explore.org staff discussed the situation in a live chat, which streamed on YouTube.
“The situation that we dealt with today was difficult to witness,” said Mike Fitz, the naturalist who started Fat Bear Week in 2014. “We love to celebrate the success of bears with full stomachs and ample body fat, but the ferocity of bears is real, the risks that they face are real. Their lives can be hard, and their deaths can be painful.”
While the fight was captured on camera, the footage did not show what precipitated the encounter. The footage begins with two bears—adult male 469 and adult female 402—fighting in the water. Fitz noted that while the bears may appear to be having a playful row, it was anything but.
“We don’t know why they’re fighting,” Katmai ranger Sarah Bruce said. “We do know that this time of year bears are in that state of hyperphagia and they are eating everything and anything they can.”
“I don’t know why a bear would want to expend so much energy trying to kill another bear as a food source,” she added. “It’s an uncommon thing to see… but it’s not completely out of the question.”
Naomi Boak, the media ranger at Katmai, noted that “402 is about as big as 469, so she fought and continued to fight” throughout the encounter.
Though 402, who was scheduled to compete in this year’s Fat Bear Week, was able to get away from 469 for a moment, the male bear ended up overpowering the female one. 402 ended up dying not from trauma, but from drowning. After 402’s death, 469 dragged the dead bear to shore.
Fat Bear Week 2024 officially kicked off on Wednesday, and will run through Oct. 8. People can vote online for their favorite bear. Viewers are also encouraged to donate to Katmai Conservancy’s Otis Fund as it works to meet its goal of raising $350,000 this year.
The post Alaska’s Fat Bear Week Starts Late After One Contestant Kills Another appeared first on VICE.
The post Alaska’s Fat Bear Week Starts Late After One Contestant Kills Another appeared first on VICE.
