Fat Bear Week 2024 delayed after deadly bear fight in Alaska park

Fat Bear Week, the results of which are scheduled to be announced on Monday, September 30, has been postponed following a deadly fight between two Alaskan grizzly bears in Katmai National Park.

According to CBS, a collision between a male bear named 469 and “Patches” and an older female bear named 402 at the Brooks River in Katmai resulted in one of the bears dying – and the incident was filmed in one of the park's livestreams.

The bears “fought, bit and hit each other,” The Washington Post reported. Bear 469 eventually overtook 402, which sank in the water.

Mike Fritz, resident naturalist at Explore.org, organizer of the Fat Bear Week competition, spoke about the fight during a livestream announcing Fat Bear Week 2024.

“Today a bear killed another bear by the river. It was captured live on the webcams and we felt we couldn't proceed with the unveiling of our Fat Bear Week series without first addressing this situation,” he said via CBS. Fritz added that officials believe the confrontation with the animals was food-related.

“We love celebrating the success of bears with full stomachs and plenty of body fat,” he continued, noting the reality of the giant animals. “But the ferocity of bears is real, the risks they face are real, their lives can be hard and their deaths can be painful.”

Katmai Park Ranger Sarah Bruce also spoke about the unfortunate incident on the livestream, explaining that bears are hungry at this time of year and eat as much as they can as they prepare for hibernation.

“I don’t know why a bear would want to expend so much energy killing another bear for food,” she said. “It is unusual for a bear to hunt another bear, but it is not completely impossible. So it’s hard to say how this started.”

Bruce told The Washington Post that aggressive interactions between bears are usually short-lived. This particular battle lasted over 20 minutes.

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Accordingly The Washington PostThe Fat Bear Week round will now be announced on October 1st at 7pm ET and voting for Fat Bear Week 2024 will run until October 8th.

Fat Bear Week is held annually and celebrates the bears in Alaska's Katmai National Park as they strengthen up before hibernation and gain hundreds of pounds.

During the event, bear fanatics will vote on which bear they believe is best prepared for hibernation based on its accumulated mass at explore.org/fat-bear-week.

There are usually several rounds of voting to eliminate the bears, and the winner is crowned before hibernation begins. The Washington Post reports that the annual event has been livestreamed since 2012, with more than 10 million people tuning in to watch the bears get a massage.

Bear 402, who died in the fight, never won Fat Bear Week but was known for being a caring mother, giving birth to eight litters of cubs during her lifetime in Katmai National Park.