KENAI — The bears of Katmai National Park and Preserve are preparing to show the world their beefy bodies starting today for this year’s Fat Bear Week.<\/p>\n
Lian Law, the visual information specialist at the park, said Fat Bear Week is a celebration of success for these animals and the ecosystem in which they live.<\/p>\n
“Our place is kind of an outlier,” she said Tuesday, noting that Katmai has one of the largest and healthiest sockeye salmon runs in the world.<\/p>\n
According to the National Parks Service, “fat bears exemplify the richness of this area, a wild region that is home to more brown bears than people.”<\/p>\n
Fat Bear Week is an online March Madness-style tournament in which people from all over choose what they think is the heftiest bear — if they guess right, they continue on and if they don’t they’re out. Law said the competition is completely “subjective.”<\/p>\n
This is the seventh annual tournament, and Law said it has grown in popularity since its conception when it started as just “Fat Bear Tuesday” in 2014.<\/p>\n
“Our bear cams have the potential to reach so many people,” Law said. “Our engagement has grown so much.”<\/p>\n
In 2019 more than 200,000 votes were cast in the tournament, according to the Washington Post. But last year that number skyrocketed to over 600,000.<\/p>\n
Law said the tournament is also a way to unite people who may never be able to visit Katmai or see the bears in person.<\/p>\n
In addition to the online competition, officials at the national park will be offering programming throughout the week. Law said that will include bear cam footage, virtual classrooms and a live question-and-answer forum with Katmai rangers.<\/p>\n
Law said the success of the summer feast is felt by many people.<\/p>\n
“People seem drawn to these bears,” she said.<\/p>\n