KATMAI NATIONAL PARK, Alaska – The 11th annual Fat Bear Week winner was crowned after a strong competition.
A bracket vote was held between 11 bears that live near Brook River within Katmai National Park in southern Alaska.
The bears range in size, age and characteristics, but one thing is for certain: they’re chunky.
This year’s winner was announced as 32 Chunk, a name fitting for the competition.
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32 Chunk, donning his scar.
(Christine Loberg / NPS / FOX Weather)
Chunk is an adult male brown bear, and he has a distinct scar across his muzzle and has a broken jaw that is healing.
Katmai National Park said Chunk took the win with a whopping 96,350 votes.
“Bear 32 ‘Chunk’ is the boulder-bodied bruiser, built like a freight train with fur,” the national park said in a Facebook post on Tuesday prior to the close of voting. “He’s got the girth, the growl, and the glory of past seasons behind him.”
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2025’s Fat Bear Week final competitors: 856 and 32 Chunk.
(Katmai National Park & Preserve/Facebook / FOX Weather)
The national park suspects 32 Chunk broke his jaw during mating season in a fight with another bear.
Despite the setback of not being able to fully use his jaw, 32 Chunk proved resilient and managed to adapt to catching salmon without the use of his mandible and to avoid conflict with other bears.
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Bear 32 Chunk, the 2025 winner of Fat Bear Week. Photo shows 32 Chunk with his broken jaw.
(T. Carmack/National Park Service/Facebook / FOX Weather)
Chunk unseated 2024’s winner, 128 Grazer, who was in 2025’s competition as well.
Fat Bear Week will resume again in 2026. The annual competition began in 2014, according to the NPS. On its 10th anniversary in 2024, the competition received more than 1 million votes from 100 countries.
