Eager viewers across the globe tuned in to watch brown bears fishing for salmon in Katmai National Park yesterday in the lead up to Fat Bear Week, but things took a grizzly turn when two bruins ended up in an on-screen battle to the death.
Around 9:30 a.m. on Monday morning, the Kat River View camera picked up two bears known as 469 (male) and 402 (female) getting into a fight in the river. The vicious altercation lasted several minutes before 469 dragged the lifeless body of 402 out of the water and began to tear at her body before disappearing with her off-screen. Grizzly bears are known to fight aggressively when competing for food and will eat their own kind so the incident is considered natural behavior.
Yesterday was the day the bracket for the usually lighthearted Fat Bear Week was to be announced, so many viewers were live streaming the action and were caught off guard by the distressing footage, with one viewer commenting: "I'm devastated. poor 402. Rest in Peace."
The National Park Service announced they would be postponing the 2024 Fat Bear Week Bracket Reveal until today, October 1 at 4pm PT / 7pm ET as 402 was listed as one of the bears in the 2024 contest.
"We love to celebrate the success of bears with full stomachs and ample body fat in Fat Bear Week, but the ferocity of bears is real. The risks they face are real. Their lives can be hard and their deaths can be painful," writes the NPS.
"National parks like Katmai protect not only the wonders of nature, but also the harsh realities. Each bear seen on the webcams is competing with others to survive."
The highly-anticipated March Madness-style bracket competition has attracted millions of wildlife fans around the globe since its inception in 2014 and it's made some bears famous, including the now-deceased 402. She even has her own wiki fandom page which reveals she was the mother of eight cubs born over two litters.
This isn't the first time viewers of Katmai's livestream have been taken by surprise – in September 2023, a lost and scared hiker showed up in the frame begging for help. Quick-thinking viewers commented under the feed that there seemed to be a hiker in need of assistance and as a result, a mountain rescue team located the man and evacuated him to safety.
Whatever this year's Fat Bear Week has in store for us, one thing is for sure – it's never boring.
What is Fat Bear Week?
Fat Bear Week is a celebration of Katmai National Park's healthy, bear-friendly ecosystem. The Alaska National Park is one of the best brown (grizzly) bear viewing areas in the world with well over 2,000 bears and some of the highest bear densities ever recorded.
With the salmon jumping in the Brooks River, the time is ripe for Katmai's bruins to fatten up before going into winter torpor, a near-hibernation state where they'll spend most of their time sleeping. During this time, the bears will lose about one-third of their body weight, so the fatter they can get in the fall, the greater their chances of survival. During Fat Bear you can vote on which bear you think will be the biggest by the end of the competition.
Voting for the main event takes place October 2 - 8, with the bracket revealed September 30. The champion fat bear will be crowned on Monday, October 8.
Taking part is simple – head to Fatbearweek.org and vote for the bear you think will be fattest at the end of the week to help it advance to the next round.
Watch all the action live via the webcams on Explore.org to get up close and personal with these stunning beasts without needing bear spray.
