Fat Bear Week: Mama bear beats rival that killed her cub

A sad start to the annual vote for the fattest bear in Alaska ends with a victory for a mama bear.

Grazer beat Chunk by more than 40,000 votes in the Fat Bear Week contest held by the Katmai National Park and Preserve, The Associated Press reported.

The rematch ended in a bittersweet victory. Grazer had 71,248 votes while Chunk had 30,468, CNN reported. More than 1 million votes were cast in total.

Grazer’s cub was killed earlier this year after the young bear fell down a waterfall and was found by Grazer’s rival in the vote - Chunk. Grazer and Chunk fought but the cub was injured and ended up dying.

Grazer’s other cub nearly won the Fat Bear Junior vote, but came in second.

Another bear — 402 — was supposed to be part of the contest, but was killed the day the bracket was supposed to be released.

Grazer is known for her blonde ears and long, straight muzzle, her biography said. Chunk is believed to be the largest bear in the area, and has narrow-set eyes, dark brown fur and a scar across his muzzle.

Typically male brown bears weigh between 600 and 900 pounds by mid-summer, but by the time it is time for their winter hibernation, they could weigh more than 1,000 pounds. Females are about a third of that size, the AP reported.

“For bears, fat equals survival. Each winter, bears enter the den where they will not eat or drink until they emerge in spring. During this time, they may lose up to one-third of their body weight as they rely solely on their fat reserves,” the National Park Service said, according to CNN. “Survival depends on eating a year’s worth of food in six months. At Katmai, bears are drawn to the large number of salmon readily available from roughly late June through September.”

Katmai National Park and Preserves holds the vote to highlight the wild brown bears that live in Alaska, CNN reported.

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