Gentle giant Backpack wins Alaska’s Fat Bear Week

The contest, which is in its 12th year, celebrates the resilience of the 2,200 brown bears that live in the preserve on the Alaska-peninsula" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="211523" data-entity-type="location">Alaska Peninsula.After a week of fierce competition, Backpack emerged victorious as Fat Bear Week champion, the heftiest bear in Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve.The nonprofit running the longstanding contest announced on Tuesday that the bear, known for his pacifist nature, was the winner with more than 100,000 votes, giving him a close win over Bear 910 with just over 50 percent of the poll.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Hunting endangered animals in the jungles of Myanmarlist 2 of 3India’s lion numbers soar: Why are some conservationists worried?list 3 of 3Photos: Thailand’s soaring captive lion populationend of listThe contest, which is in its 12th year, celebrates the resilience of the 2,200 brown bears that live in the preserve on the Alaska-peninsula" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="211523" data-entity-type="location">Alaska Peninsula, which extends from the state’s southwest corner towards the Aleutian Islands. Fat Bear Week was started in 2014 as an interactive way to inform the public about brown bears, the coastal cousins of grizzlies.Last year’s winner, Chunk — known officially as Bear 32 — clinched his victory at an estimated 1,200 pounds. He was handily defeated in the first round of competition this year by Bucky, who went on to lose a face-off against Backpack, known officially as Bear 89.This September 9, 2026 photo provided by the National Park Service shows Bear 910 standing along the Brooks River in Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska [C. Loberg/National Park Service via AP]The event this year featured 16 bears vying for the heavyweight title in a single-elimination, bracket-style tournament. All voting is done online, and the winner was declared on Tuesday evening after the final poll closed. The public could watch the bears on explore.org’s livestream cameras before deciding on their favourite.