Bereaved Mama Bear Trounces Nemesis in Fat Bear Week

At the culmination of a fierce grudge match, defending Fat Bear Week champion bested her enemy to win this year’s pre-hibernation weight contest in Alaska. Grazer— reportedly one of Katmai National Park and Preserve’s most-respected brown bears—clinched the title for the second year running, defeating Brooks River’s biggest boy, Chunk, in a 40,000-vote landslide, according to NBC News . The victory is stunning for two reasons: One, because the widely feared Chunk retains dominion over the region’s best salmon-fishing spots and therefore enjoys an automatic advantage in the competition; and two, because Chunk fatally wounded Grazer’s cub over the summer, when the baby fell into the river and drifted into Chunk’s territory. Whether Grazer owes her victory to her impressive accumulated winter weight or her personal beef with Chunk is unclear, though two things can certainly be true at once.

Read more at The Daily Beast.