Let the chunk-off begin.
MARK THIESSEN Associated PressFat Bear Week is almost back. But until then, the yearly celebration of the beefy, brown and bristly is getting started with a Fat Bear Jr. contest.Voting starts Wednesday in the annual Fat Bear Week contest at Alaska's Katmai National Park and Preserve, with viewers picking their favorite among a dozen brown bears fattened up to survive the winter.
"National parks like Katmai protect not only the wonders of nature, but also the harsh realities," park spokesperson Matt Johnson said in a statement. "Each bear seen on the webcams is competing with others to survive." "We love to celebrate the success of bears with full stomachs and ample body fat, but the ferocity of bears is real," said Mike Fitz, explore.org's resident naturalist. "The risks that they face are real. Their lives can be hard, and their deaths can be painful."The bracket this year features 12 bears, with eight facing off against each other in the first round and four receiving byes to the second round. They've all been packing on the pounds all summer.
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Fat Bear Week Contestants Revealed In Wake Of Bear-On-Bear TragedyAmanda Kooser is a New Mexico-based journalist who covers quirky and unusual science stories. She’s explored a mushroom growing on a frog, perfume for dogs and strange rocks on Mars. As a freelance writer, Kooser has delved into gadgets, geek culture, public schools, weird foods, transatlantic travel, broadband and Route 66.
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Online voting in Alaska's Fat Bear Week contest starts after an attack killed 1 contestantVoting starts in the annual Fat Bear Week contest at Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve.
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