Fat Bear Week delayed after a large bear kills a rival bear

Safiel · 2024-10-01T21:26:43.925Z

NPR

Fat Bear Week delayed after a large bear kills a rival bear

The scene was relayed by a live webcam of bears on Alaska's Brooks River. “This is very difficult to watch and comprehend,” said Naomi Boak of the nonprofit Katmai Conservancy.

Nature played out in all its ugly brutality on September 30th in Katmai National Parks, right on the bear cams.

Bear 469, a large male, killed and partially ate Bear 402, an older female who had just emancipated her record breaking 8th litter earlier this summer. Than the drama continued, with Bear 32 Chunk, the most dominant bear at Katmai this season, driving Bear 469 off the cache and taking it for himself.

I believe this is the first time an adult bear has been killed onscreen at Katmai, though rangers have witnessed several occurrences off camera in the past. While there are numerous examples of cubs being killed, including several on cam, this has been a shock to everybody and Fat Bear Week has been delayed to give people a chance to fully take this in.

This probably occurs more often than we think in Katmai and of course we cannot hold it against Bear 469. Survival is paramount and calories, from whatever source derived, are critical to survival.

SixFoot · 2024-10-01T23:28:00.516Z

People pay good money to kill and eat a bear.

Supreme_War_Pig · 2024-10-02T00:15:41.171Z

Yeah, but it’s still a bummer

SixFoot · 2024-10-02T00:57:24.803Z

How is this delaying anything anyway? Seems like that bear got a head start!

TheRedComet · 2024-10-02T01:18:13.746Z

So the bears were doing bear things?

Bill.in.PA · 2024-10-02T01:49:26.239Z

I have heard that the meat of brown bears who fatten up on salmon is greasy, full of parasites, and has a very unpleasant flavor–definitely not gourmet cuisine.

As far as the bear-eat-bear scenario, it reminds me of reports of killer whales munching on sea otters. How can cute creatures be so mean?

Newsweek – 3 Oct 23

Mystery as orca swallows six sea otters whole

Sea otters weighing a combined 258 pounds were found in the stomach and throat of a dead orca on the Russian coast.