And this year’s winner — for the second year in a row — is . . .

Mama bear 128 Grazer!

And, as in last year’s epic competition, she once more beat her principal male rival, 32 Chunk, in a final round face-off.

Score one for the big girls!

Sadly for Chunk, it wasn’t even a close match this year: his 30,468 votes came nowhere near Grazer’s 71,248. The final tally of the online voting site was 1,041,124 in this tenth year of the popular Alaska-based contest.

Sorry, big fella.

The contest, held by Katmai National Park & Preserve, promotes public awareness of the Alaska brown bears. It has become a popular fall ritual, not only in the U.S., but in many places around the world as well. [Forrest Brown, CNN, October 8, 2024.]

Life in the wilderness is not always easy for these big beauties, and it’s nice to see them receiving a little recognition before they go off to hibernate for the coming winter.

Summer, of course, has to be their favorite time of year, when they feast on all the salmon they can catch. Here, for example, is 2019’s winner, 435 Holly, before and after gaining her hibernation weight. That gal can certainly pack in the calories.

Looking at both of the girls, Grazer and Holly, and comparing their weight gains with Chunk’s, one thing is painfully obvious to me: We women just have more trouble maintaining our youthful figures than the guys do. Maybe it has to do with all the litters we produce.

Sometimes life just ain’t fair.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
10/9/24