Brown Bear's Brutal Death Delays the Start of Fat Bear Week
Park officials believe that the bear ultimately drowned after fighting with another bear.
Published Oct. 1 2024, 1:08 p.m. ET
Katmai National Park announced it would postpone its announcement of Fat Bear Week contestants, after one of the park's beloved bears was killed in an altercation with another bear. The shocking attack was caught on camera thanks to the park's livestream that follows the park's 2,200 some odd residents as they enjoy the scenic surroundings of the Alaskan wilderness.
You can find out more about bear 402's death in Katmai National Park, including what this means for the 2024 Fat Bear Week Contest, below.
Who is Katmai's bear 402?
According to the Explore website that hosts the annual Fat Bear Week contest, bear 402 was a long-time resident of Brooks River. During her time in the park she gave birth to an estimated eight litters of cubs, a number park experts say exceeds that of every other bear in residence.
Not only was she a prolific mama bear, but she was also beloved by her cubs, something that seemed supported by the fact that some of her babies were known to trek back to Brooks River to visit even after moving away.
The 2024 contest wouldn't have been her first one. Bear 402 competed in 2023, though she was knocked out of the race early, according to the National Park Services, when she was bested by bear 901.
Despite her early defeat, The Washington Post notes that she remained at the top of mind for many viewers who continued to follow her on the park's livestream and watched as she valiantly fought to keep her cub Hedgie safe from some of the dangers in the Alaskan wild.
Katmai bear 402 was killed by a male bear by the name of 469.
Bear 402 faced off against a male grizzly named 469 on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. The video of the attack shows how bear 402's final moments played out, as she desperately struggled to keep her head above water while the much more powerful bear 469 fought to keep her down.
In the end, bear 402 just grew too tired during the fight and was ultimately submerged underwater until her death.
Afterwards, bear 469 could be seen pulling bear 402's body out of the water and out of sight of the cameras.
Content warning: Please be advised, the below video of the fight will be hard for some viewers to watch.
The reason behind the skirmish remains anyone's guess. During a recap of the livestream, park experts shared how the brutality of the fight made little sense to them.
"We do know at this time of year that bears are in that state of hyperphagia, and they are eating anything and everything they can," park ranger Sarah Bruce said in a voiceover heard in the video.
"I don't know why a bear would want to expend so much energy trying to kill another bear as a food source," she continued. "It's an uncommon thing to see a bear predating on another bear, but it's not completely out of the question. So it's hard to say how this started."
Sadly, this is the second bear-on-bear death at the park in 2024, after an adult bear was caught on camera killing a young cub over the summer.
Contest organizers postponed the planned announcement of the Fat Bear Week contestants.
The brutal fight took place the morning that the park was set to announce the 2024 contestants, prompting organizers to postpone the big reveal by one day, to Oct. 1, 2024 at 7 p.m. ET.
While the initial announcement was delayed, it doesn't appear that voting will be. As of the time of publication, the official Fat Bear Week website still showed the original voting timeline listed for the contest.
Hopefully, this sad reminder of the reality of the wild doesn't overshadow the good that contest organizers hope spreading awareness about these bears will do, since they initially began Fat Bear Week as a way to celebrate another year surviving until hibernation.
