Voting Is Open! It is Time for Fats Bear Week

The authorities could be shutting down*, however the bears don’t know that. NPS staff year-round have been prepping for the momentous and beloved occasion that’s “Fats Bear Week,” the place chubby contenders and residents of Katmai Nationwide Park go head-to-head to compete for the title of “Fattest Bear.”

Winners are decided through on-line voting, as is identical with years previous. Two years in the past, NPS spiced up the occasion by including a cubs-only competitors, dubbed, “Fats Bear Week Junior.” Each occasions kick off this week, with voting for Fats Bear Week Junior starting at this time at 12 p.m. EDT, and the primary occasion starting midweek on October 4.

Wish to preserve tabs on the contestants forward of Fats Bear Week? Take a look at Katmai Nationwide Park’s dwell digital camera feed on the Brooks River and Brooks Falls.

How Fats Bear Week Works

Proper now, bears are in a state of hyperphagia, consuming every thing and something to bulk up and put together for hibernation this winter. In layman’s phrases, brown bears get fats to outlive. Fats Bear Week is an annual bracket-style match in celebration of those bears prepping for winter.

And have fun we’ll! Annually, the Nationwide Park Service’s Fats Bear Week has grown, with upward of 20,000 folks casting their on-line votes for successful bears every spherical.

You may click on the hyperlink and vote to your favourite and fattest Junior bear at this time. For the heavyweights, you’ll have to attend till October 4. NPS will unveil the bracket of these Fats Bear Week Contestants on-line on October 2. (Professional tip: bookmark this web page so that you don’t overlook to vote in every spherical!) Vital: you should definitely forged all votes between 12-9 p.m. EDT every day, and make your ultimate votes earlier than October 8 for Fats Bear Week.

The Fats Bear Week Finals showdown will happen on-line on October 10, 2023.

Editor’s observe: As many others have famous on-line, Fats Bear Week is in jeopardy. If the federal authorities shuts down on Saturday evening, federally managed lands and websites — like Nationwide Monuments, the Nationwide Mall, Nationwide Parks, and even Nationwide Museums — will endure: staff can be furloughed, parks will shut, and providers will shut down. If a shutdown does have an effect on Fats Bear Week, we’ll you should definitely let you realize.