One bear nearly clawed her way to the finals of Alaska’s Fat Bear Week contest Monday after nearly 9,000 fraudulent ballots were cast for the contestant during the semifinals.
Organizers with the Katmai National Park in King Salmon, Alaska, which oversees the weeklong competition, said it was easy to discern which votes were legitimate and which were fraudulent. The elimination of the bear that benefited from the fraudulent ballots, named Holly, meant contestant 747 advanced to the finals, which will close Tuesday night.
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“Like bears stuff their face with fish, our ballot box, too, has been stuffed,” the park tweeted. “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.”
Bear 747 will now face Bear 901 in the final round of the competition, first held in 2014. Katmai rangers select 12 brown bears from the park and provide two photos of the animals: one taken in mid-July before the bears gorge themselves on berries and fish, and the other taken in early September. Bears during this period will fatten themselves up ahead of their hibernation in the winter.
The park provides background information on each of the competitors, so voters can decide on a favorite bear. Holly, for example, is a mother who has had multiple litters and even adopted a cub, while the dominant male, Bear 747, was the champion in 2020, and Bear 901 is a female bear who is described as “a medium-small yet quickly growing adult female,” according to her bio.
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The park also has a junior bear competition in which voters can select their favorite cub or set of cubs. The winner of the junior competition, who is crowned prior to the primary competition, competes in the main competition with the adults.
Voting for the final round of Fat Bear Week is now open, and a new winner will be crowned Wednesday.
