The Results Are In,

for the fat bear award of the year,

photograph NPS via USA Today, and here he is "The votes are in – you’ve decided to upgrade to fish class & fly with 747!" the park announced on Twitter, more than 793,000 votes were cast in last year's competition, then a new record for Fat Bear Week. Lian Law, visual information specialist at the park and lead for Fat Bear Week, told USA TODAY in September that the goal was to reach 1 million votes. Initial results from 2022 voting showed the contest gathered more than 900,000 votes, you may remember on Wednesday I made a post about the rigged votes, as it happens the 2022 edition of Fat Bear Week was unlike any other, and even with a voting scandal that rocked southwest Alaska, 747 was crowned this year's champion of choice, the bear's second title in three years, 747 is the largest bear known to use the Brooks River to stock up on salmon, potentially weighing as much as 1,400 pounds, according to the park a "skilled and efficient angler," 747 has sat at the top of the bear hierarchy in the park since last summer, and got there not because of aggression, but rather just his size. 747 captured the title over contestant 901, who was competing in her first Fat Bear Week. The runner-up is known to defend her fishing spots from other bears, despite being only 6 years old, so it looks like 901 is the one to watch in future contests, 747 is one of an estimated 2,200 brown bears that occupy the 4-million acre national park. The brown bears gain so much weight because when they hibernate, they can lose one-third of their weight since they aren't eating or drinking, relying on their fat reserves to keep them going throughout the winter, so I guess anytime now they will all be going down to the woods today for a good snooze!

Oh No!

it was rigged!

only last Saturday I made a post about a bit of fun, the annual Katmai National Park in Alaska Fat Bear Week, well the semi final-results are in, but wait for this, at least 7,000 fraudulent votes were cast! Bear 747 was named the real winner in the semi-finals of the 2022 Fat Bear Week competition after organizers found more than 7,000 fake votes for his opponent, Katmai National Park, which hosts a bracket contest for bears pictured in the Alaskan Park, overturned the election result between Bear 747 and his opponent, Holly, after removing more than 7,000 fraudulent votes, Bear 747 with 37,940 votes to Holly’s 30,430, does this mean that perhaps International cheating has come to Fat Bear Week? The bear, estimated to weigh about 1,400 pounds, was found fishing every day at Brooks Falls between late June and mid-September as it prepared for hibernation, rangers from the national park noted that 747 was one of the dominant bears in the forest, and while bears tend to fight to claim their place, they said that 747 retains its rank ‘by size alone’, the bear was a previous winner of the 2020 Fat Bear Week competition, for the full article have a look here.

I Knew Bears Hibernated,

what I did not know,   

is that there is a league to see which is the fattest bear as winter approaches, vitally important for the coming hibernation, above the favorite, Bear 747 in the Fat Bear Week contest in Alaska's Katmai National Park, Naomi Boak/Courtesy of NPS Photos,

and this is how things are shaping up, above courtesy of NPS Photos, as the competition began this week, Katmai Conservancy media ranger Naomi Boak had her eye on two of what she calls "favorites." No. 435. ... they assign a number after monitoring the bears for a while ... and No. 747, He is "as big as a jumbo jet," she says, "He was so big he looked like he was ready to hibernate in July. He's the size of two bears." this isn't fat shaming, Boak says. It is fat glorifying as the biggest bear has done the best job getting ready, "They lose a third of their body fat over the winter," Boak says. "So they need all that fat to survive." and the winner is,

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Bear 435, aka "Holly," before and after her prehibernation weigh-in. Holly went on to win the final round in Fat Bear Week 2019, photograph, Katmai National Park & Preserve, so goodnight to all and see you next year!

It Is That Time Of The Year Again,

Fat Bear Week, 

above Bear 747 in the Fat Bear Week contest in Alaska's Katmai National Park, Naomi Boak/Courtesy of NPS Photos, towards winter bears pile on the pounds, to build up for the winter, we have featured the contest before, the contest is light-hearted in spirit, it often spawns memes and celebrates the bears’ impressive ability to transform so rapidly, but this year’s contest has gone a bit mustang, bear No. 469, I guess thought that bear No. 402, look tasty and killed it last Monday morning! worse still it all happened live on webcams at Katmai National Park, park spokesperson Matt Johnson said in a statement, “National parks like Katmai protect not only the wonders of nature, but also the harsh realities,”  also Mike Fitz, explore.org’s resident naturalist commented, “The risks that they face are real. Their lives can be hard, and their deaths can be painful, 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,” the contest has been delayed, but after the delay the brackets were revealed Tuesday afternoon, voting opened Wednesday on explore.org. More than 1.3 million votes were cast last year, for the full article have a look here.

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall,

who is the fattest of them all?

photograph © N. Bonk/National Park Service, yes it is that time of the year again! the fattest bear in the park contest, we have featured the competition before which you can see here, the contest takes place in the Katmai National Park in Alaska, the annual Fat Bear Week results are in, and the winner is 128 Grazer - a defensive mother bear and first-time winner of the title, pictured above, collecting 108,321 votes, a decisive victory over runner-up 32 Chuck who received 23,134 votes, she was introduced to Brooks River as a cub in 2005. She has since built as reputation as one of the best anglers on the water, and she is a good mother too, raising two litters of cubs and is often caught on camera attacking larger bears to ensure her children's safety,

as can be seen above, 'Grazer’s combination of skill and toughness makes her one of Brooks River’s most formidable, successful, and adaptable bears,' said Explore.org, 

last years winner 747 was one of the also rans, hopefully the huge difference in votes does not mean like a previous year, the voting was rigged!

Fat Bear Week,

the results a little late are in, 

cue drum roll and the winner is,

bear number 128 Grazer amassing 71,248 votes, on the right, on the left 32 Chunk who was a favorite, but not enough votes at 30,468 and here she is, 

showing the difference between her slim trim figure in spring to what is needed to see the winter hibernation out, 

hopefully next year there will be no repeat of this years "unpleasantness".

You Will Have To Be Quick,

as there is only one day left,

to make your vote in the Katmai National Park in Alaska annual Fat Bear Week which finishes on October 11th, all you have to do is decide which of the park's brown bears have gained the most weight during the summer to ensure a safe and healthy winter hibernation, people who have been following the bears all summer have their favourites, but if you don't, you can read up on the contenders in their profiles, the bears that have been around long enough have names, like Holly, Otis, Grazer, Walker, and Chunk, but they all have numbers, you can cast your vote here, even if you do not vote you can still check out the bears on the park's live webcams, which I did, at the time 14 bears all trying to catch salmon, amazing!

 

We Tried Out Our New Piece Of Kitchen Equipment,

it is a type of grill,

that is supposed to reduce the amount of fat in fried foods, the George Foreman grill, yes it is named after a famous boxer, the way it seems to work is that as the food is cooking any surplus fat rolls down to a collecting tray, I have to say that the amount of fat collected from grilling 2 sausages and 4 rashers of bacon was a huge amount, so hopefully our English breakfast will be a little more healthy for us now, as an aside it is estimated George Froman has made a total of over $200 million from the endorsement, a sum that is substantially more than he earned as a boxer,

 in the afternoon I made a start on tidying up a part of my collection of stamps,

 then out to the weekend night market, the skies looked ominous indeed, 

 as I was walking to the pet section Mr. Tony was waking towards me,

 looking inland the clouds were rolling in,

 one of the many souvenir stalls that are springing up, the market is definitely getting more popular with coach tours, 

 no stalls opposite the bar this evening,

 the food aisles were crowded,

 on the corner of one some food being fried,

 whilst the clothes aisles had almost literally just a couple in them,

 the aquatic store at the end of the aisle,

 sunset over the market,

 then a little bit of street theatre,

 as Teddy bears came walking past,

 for a few moments I could not see the reason why,

 then I realised,

 it was the opening tomorrow of the Teddy Bear Island attraction,

 it appears it should have opened up some time ago,

 but the opening has been delayed until tomorrow,

 the signs for the show,

 so it is goodbye from him,

 and her,

and I must not forget the helpers,

one piece of good news for visitors is that now there are gates to help them cross the road supervised by the markets staff,

 Diana all smiles as she come back from Tesco Lotus after a ice cream there,

 lots more clouds coming in,

 a couple of friends called by,

 it really was getting dark now, not just because of the time but storm clouds,

 tonight we were joined by Brian,

 for our evening meal again we chose the Punch & Judy, we went there as it is just off of Thepprasit Road,

 spring rolls for Diana,

 jalapeno poppers for Mr. Tony,

 fish and chips for me,

 with some onion rings to share,

'Cheers!', from all of us,

 after the meal we made a move for home, just as we arrived the heavens opened up, after a few from Cheers we bade farewell to Mr. Tony,

 and dashed back inside, the lightning was almost non-stop,

and then it got worse! thankfully the street did not flood, but we were thankful when the storm finally passed by, we watched a few more from Cheers, then for us we were off to bed.