Bear 89 Wins Alaska Fat Bear Week Competition

Backpack, a 20.5-year-old brown bear known as Bear 89, won the 12th annual Fat Bear Week competition in Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve. He defeated runner-up Bear 910 with 103,334 votes in the online bracket-style contest, which celebrates the resilience of the local bear population.

How Backpack Claimed the Heavyweight Crown

The competition drew more than 2.3 million votes from across the globe as online voters tracked the contestants via livestream cameras. In the final round of the single-elimination tournament, Backpack edged out fellow finalist Bear 910 by securing 103,334 votes compared to her 98,253, according to figures from explore.org, which hosts the park’s nature cameras. Park ranger Sarah Bruce noted that the margin between the two finalists was roughly 5,000 votes.

Meet Bear 89 Backpack

The victory marks the first time Backpack has won the annual event, though heavyweight success clearly runs in his family. His mother, Holly, claimed the online crown in 2019. Fans rallied around the veteran bear not only for his impressive physique—estimated to be between 1,000 and 1,200 pounds—but also because of his age and history at the park.

“Some of the reasoning I’ve seen people say, ‘We should vote for 89,’ is because he is older, and these other younger bears will still have chances to win. I think a lot of people have kind of grabbed onto that idea that maybe this is his only Fat Bear Week, and this is his one chance to win.”

Sarah Bruce, Katmai park ranger

A Lifelong Presence Along the Brooks River

Backpack earned his iconic nickname as a first-year cub in 2006 by climbing onto his mother’s back when they swam across the Brooks River. He has been a familiar fixture for wildlife enthusiasts since live cameras were installed in 2012, watching him grow from a cub into a massive adult.

Bear 89 Wins Alaska Fat Bear Week Competition — Photo: yahoo.com

His journey to the heavyweight title was far from guaranteed. As a yearling in 2007, he suffered a severe leg injury that left park rangers and online observers wondering whether he would survive the season. Without human intervention, he recovered with his mother’s help and eventually grew into a dominant, albeit peaceful, resident of the river corridor.

Unlike many large adult male brown bears that engage in frequent brawls, Backpack is known for his quiet demeanor. Park staff describe him as having a quiet toughness and a stoic presence, often choosing to relax on a specific rock downstream rather than participate in river drama.

Backpack Crowned Alaska’s 2026 Fat Bear Week Champion | KATMAI NATIONAL PARK

The Biological Stakes of the Annual Salmon Feast

Beyond the online popularity contest, Fat Bear Week serves an important educational purpose for the 2,200 brown bears living along the Alaska Peninsula. Started in 2014 by Katmai National Park, the event highlights how coastal brown bears accumulate the vital fat reserves necessary to survive winter hibernation.

Adult males typically weigh between 600 and 900 pounds in midsummer, but gorge on migrating and spawning salmon to push past 1,000 pounds by autumn. During this peak feeding season, individual bears may consume up to 30 fish per day. When winter arrives, these animals enter torpor—an involuntary state where they cease eating, drinking, and waste elimination, ultimately losing about a third of their body weight.

89 backpack fat_9.8.2026 — Photo: wapt.com

This year’s bracket also featured five bear families, acknowledging a record high number of mothers and cubs at the river. While mother bear 132 and her three spring cubs advanced as far as the semifinals before falling to Bear 910, their presence highlighted the rigorous demands placed on mother bears, who must forage for enough calories to sustain themselves and protect their young. With the competition concluded and the bears preparing for torpor, the National Park Service and supporting organizations continue fundraising efforts, such as the Katmai Conservancy’s Otis Fund, to support ongoing research and conservation in the preserve.