32 Chunk Crowned Champion in the Biggest Fat Bear Week Yet
Fat Bear Week 2025 ended with an unexpected champion. Bear 32, known as Chunk, began the season in rough shape with a broken jaw and visible scars. Many people doubted he would recover. But as the months passed, wildlife cameras at Katmai National Park showed him steadily gaining weight along the Brooks River.
Fans followed his comeback closely. When the online voting ended, more than 1.5 million votes had been cast, and Chunk finished on top. The injured bear who struggled early in the season had become the fattest bear on the river and the clear winner of this year’s contest.
Bear Bulking: A Global Event
Image via Wikimedia Commons/Tony Webster
Fat Bear Week began in 2014 as a creative way to teach visitors about brown bear survival. The National Park Service and Explore.org set up livestream cameras around Brooks Falls to give the public a close look at the park’s famous bears fishing for salmon.
Each fall, fans vote in a bracket-style tournament that compares before-and-after photos of the animals as they prepare for hibernation. Voters choose the bear that best represents healthy weight gain before winter. A fat bear means a strong chance of survival during hibernation. Rangers often remind viewers that piling on pounds is exactly what these animals must do before retreating to their dens.
Meet 32 Chunk, The Scarred Heavyweight
Bear 32 Chunk already held a reputation along the Brooks River as one of the largest and most dominant males in the area. Fans recognize him by his narrow-set eyes, heavy brow ridge, and a visible scar across his muzzle. The season almost took a disastrous turn when Chunk appeared in early summer with a broken jaw. The injury likely happened during a fight with another male during the brown bear mating season.
Bears in Katmai do not receive veterinary treatment, so survival depends entirely on their ability to adapt. A damaged jaw created serious questions about Chunk’s future, and many viewers wondered if he could still catch enough salmon to build the fat reserves needed for winter.
Chunk answered those doubts quickly. Despite the injury, he continued fishing throughout the summer and gained massive weight by fall. Park observers estimate he reached roughly 1,200 pounds by the time voting began.
The Final Showdown At Brooks River
Fat Bear Week voting began on September 23, 2025. The competition featured bears that spent the summer feeding along Alaska’s Brooks River, gradually narrowing until only two remained. The final matchup came down to Bear 32, Chunk, and Bear 856, a longtime heavyweight who has ruled parts of the river for more than a decade. Now in his mid-20s, 856 still draws attention, even though he usually avoids direct fights with bigger rivals.
Voters decide the winner by comparing photos taken earlier in the summer with images from fall, when the bears reach peak weight. Chunk’s change stood out. By the time the results were announced on September 30, the outcome was clear. Chunk received 96,350 votes, while Bear 856 finished with 63,725.
Salmon Feasts And Survival
Image via Getty Images/OSTg
The entire contest revolves around a seasonal feeding frenzy. Each summer, millions of salmon swim upstream through the Brooks River to spawn. Brown bears gather at the falls to take advantage of the easy calories.
Bears sometimes eat only the richest parts of the fish, such as the skin, eggs, and brain tissue, to pack on weight quickly. That intense feeding period allows the animals to build massive fat reserves before hibernation begins. Most Katmai bears enter their dens between October and November, relying entirely on those stored calories for months.