Apparently cheating scandals are evident in even the most innocuous competitions, as one was discovered during Fat Bear Week when voters cast their picks for the thickest, chubbiest bear. Alaska's Katmai National Park has been holding an internet competition to crown the biggest brown bear since 2015, but this year's tournament found the ballots to be "stuffed" per the park's Twitter page. Even though there is nothing to win except fame, someone apparently used bots to stack up fake votes for Unnamed Bear 747.
It appears someone has decided to spam the Fat Bear Week poll, but fortunately it is easy for us to tell which votes are fraudulent. We have discarded the fake votes and today?s official totals are:
747: 37,940
435: 30,430— Katmai National Park (@KatmaiNPS) October 10, 2022
With 12 bears in the competition, Otis (Bear 480) was the favorite to win this year. He won the first tournament back in 2014 and has won three times since. However, other bears have taken the title over the years as he gets older. Holly (Bear 435) won back in 2019 and Unnamed Bear 747 won in 2020. Bear 747 had beaten Holly out of the semi-final round by over 7,000 votes until the cheating scandal was revealed. In recounting the votes, it appeared the Bear 747 still beat Holly, but at least we know it's an honest win this time.
The voting has officially begun between Bear 747 and Bear 901 for the final round and title of the Fattest Bear of 2022.
Bear 747 is a large adult male who has become one of the largest known brown bears currently living in the world, weighing in at 1,400 pounds. Bear 901 is a younger, growing female who's been putting on the pounds to potentially raise cubs. Female bears can give birth during hibernation, but it becomes dangerous if they don't have enough body fat. So when Bear 901 makes a reappearance in the spring, she might have some cubs with her.
Fat Bear Week (FBW) became popularized online by Explore.org as people voted on which bear they thought would stock up the most on food before winter hibernation. On Youtube by Explore Live Nature Cams, a live video shows the bears hanging out at Brooks Falls catching flying salmon in their mouths. Over 2,200 bears in the national park wander around there from June to October to feed before turning in for winter, while observers vote in a single-elimination tournament for the winner of FBW.
