{"id":182757,"date":"2025-10-07T04:12:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T04:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/182757\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T04:12:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T04:12:07","slug":"32-chunk-wins-2025-fat-bear-week-with-record-votes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/182757\/","title":{"rendered":"32 Chunk wins 2025 Fat Bear Week with record votes"},"content":{"rendered":"

The hulking male brown bear, estimated to weigh well over 1,200 pounds, finished as runner-up in both 2023 and 2024.<\/p>\n

ALASKA, USA \u2014 After years of being the bridesmaid but never the bride, 32 Chunk\u00a0<\/a>has finally waddled away with the crown in Alaska\u2019s Fat Bear Week.<\/a><\/p>\n

The hulking male brown bear, estimated to weigh well over 1,200 pounds, clinched the 2025 title with 96,350 votes \u2014 more than 32,000 ahead of runner-up 856, park officials and Explore.org announced Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first time ever, 32 \u2018Chunk\u2019 takes home the gold \u2014 or should we say red (because of all the salmon he ate),\u201d Katmai National Park & Preserve quipped on social media.<\/p>\n

The win marks a breakthrough for Chunk, who finished as runner-up in both 2023 and 2024. This year, fans finally tipped the scales in his favor, rewarding the burly bear for his persistence \u2014 and his ability to adapt after suffering a broken jaw in a brawl last summer.<\/p>\n

Fat Bear Week, the beloved online contest that began in 2014, invites fans worldwide to vote on which Katmai bear has bulked up best during Alaska\u2019s salmon-packed summer. The tournament-style showdown features 12 bears captured on Brooks River livecams, each putting on prodigious pounds to prepare for a long winter\u2019s hibernation.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Fat Bear Week 2025: Meet Alaska’s beefiest bears competing for gargantuan glory<\/a><\/p>\n

While the competition is lighthearted, naturalists note it also highlights serious survival strategies. Male bears can balloon from 700 to more than 1,000 pounds over the course of a season, while mother bears like two-time champion 128 Grazer must pack on weight while simultaneously protecting cubs from danger.<\/p>\n

Back-to-back defending champ Grazer was eliminated in the semifinals, failing in her bid for a three-peat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chunk’s win signals a new reign at Brooks River, but for now, he’ll bask in internet glory, his jowly portrait splashed across social feeds and news headlines worldwide. Fans will have to wait until next September to see if he can defend his crown \u2014 or if another bear bulks up enough to take him down.<\/p>\n

Until then, Katmai\u2019s ursine superstar can enjoy his victory the way he enjoys most things: with a salmon snack, preferably a fatty one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The hulking male brown bear, estimated to weigh well over 1,200 pounds, finished as runner-up in both 2023…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182758,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":{"0":"post-182757","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom","11":"tag-unitedkingdom","12":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}