Author: Phil Helsel
Source: NBC News

A Scarred Titan Crowned Champion

Imagine a giant among giants — a colossal male brown bear known as 32 Chunk, weighing around 1,200 pounds, with a battle-worn scar and a jaw broken in combat, yet still the undisputed fat king of Brooks River. In Alaska’s Katmai National Park, “Chunk the Hunk” earned his crown in the popular Fat Bear Week competition, outpacing 11 other contenders to become the 2025 champ.

What Is Fat Bear Week?

This isn’t just any contest. Since 2014, Fat Bear Week celebrates the miraculous urge of nature’s winter warriors to gorge on salmon, bulking up their bodies for the long hibernation ahead. The bears feast with determination, sometimes trimming their diet to salmon’s fattiest bits — skin, brains, eggs — maximizing every calorie.

Chunk’s Grit and Glory

“The timing of the injury during the brown bear mating season and the nature of it strongly suggest that Chunk was injured in a fight with another bear.” — Explore, the organization behind the livestream

Despite his jaw’s incomplete healing from a rough mating season fight, Chunk didn’t just survive — he triumphed. This victory, by public votes tallying over 96,000, crowned him the undisputed king against his closest rival with 63,725 votes.

Katmai’s Wild Theater

In the wild, the Brooks River stage teems every summer as salmon swim upstream and bears meet them with rugged jaws. When the fish weaken in the fall, the bears feast again, a vital ritual that fills their frames for the long winter sleep.

Why This Battle Matters

Chunk’s story isn’t only about size; it’s about surviving the harshness of wild life with scars that tell their own tales of struggle and perseverance. The spectacle of Fat Bear Week reminds us: nature’s giants don’t just exist in the quiet majesty of wilderness — they live filled with fight, feast, and the flickering hope of life beyond the frost.

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