Fat Bear Week Delayed After Bear Kills Another Bear on Livestream

Fat Bear Week is delayed. It was supposed to kick off yesterday with a live announcement of the official 2024 #FatBearWeek bracket. However, officials had to postpone the kickoff until later today after a grisly grizzly-bear fight that ended in the death of one of the fat bears that may have been part of this year’s bracket. The fight went down on livestream cameras placed in Brooks River within Alaska’s Katmai National Park.

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Instead of revealing this year’s Fat Bear Week contenders yesterday as planned, Explore.org moderators discussed the violent event live on YouTube.

“On 9.30.2024 we saw a fight that resulted in the death of another bear on our Kats River view camera,” wrote Explore.org in its YouTube video caption. “This is a difficult situation to witness. We love to celebrate the success of bears with full stomachs and ample body fat, but the ferocity of bears is real. The risks they face are real. Their lives can be hard and their deaths can be painful.”

The bears involved in the deadly altercation were bear 469 (a male grizzly) and bear 402 (a female grizzly). Bear 402 died, likely from drowning after bear 469 overpowered and injured her. Horrified livestream viewers saw the whole thing.

Mike Fritz, resident naturalist at Explore.org, explained that after this event, the organization decided they couldn’t move forward with Fat Bear Week without addressing the situation. Here’s Fritz and others discussing the incident with bear 402 with some clips of the fight:

Fat Bear Week celebrates Alaskan grizzlies as they fatten up for the winter. Participants can vote on their favorite “fat bear” until there’s a winner. The 2024 Fat Bear Week bracket reveal will now take place today, Tuesday, October 1, 2024, at 7 p.m. ET.

Watch the bracket reveal here:

Have you ever participated in Fat Bear Week? Will you this year?

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