The Happy Pod: Fat Bear Week returns

Holly Gibbs (0:00)

This is The Happy Pod from the BBC World Service. I'm Holly Gibbs, and in this edition, it's back.

Sarah Bruce (0:12)

I think people are really excited about it because it's something fun on the internet. It's positive, it's engaging, you get to learn about bears.

Holly Gibbs (0:22)

The results of the annual Fat Bear Week are in. Also on this podcast, the tattoo artist is helping people embrace their scars.

Karolina Szymajska (0:31)

It's huge responsibility and it's huge fulfillment after all because I make them feel different. I make them change what they're wearing. I make them buy new clothes.

Holly Gibbs (0:42)

Plus the grandmother, who is a world record holder in streaming.

Cath Bowie (0:47)

My grandson, when I said to him that I thought I would start streaming, he started laughing and said that nobody would really follow you, and I thought, I'll show you.

Holly Gibbs (0:57)

And the doctors, who are going on walks with their patients.

Last week saw the return of a much-loved fat bear contest in the US state of Alaska. I'm not being rude, trust me. It's something affectionately known as Fat Bear Week. It's an annual tournament which celebrates the success of the bears preparing for hibernation. In other words, comparing which of the bears has gained the most weight.

People who wish to take part can vote online and last year more than 1.7 million votes were cast from people in over 100 countries. This year, the winner is a bear called Backpack. Sarah Bruce is a park ranger at Katmai National Park and Preserve, where the bears live. I caught up with her and started by asking why it's important bears are fat.

Sarah Bruce (1:48)

Bears are eating and eating and eating and eating for about four to six months throughout the summer because they go into the den for about four to six months in the winter. So they are surviving off of their fat stores during their hibernative state in order to survive until the next season. So the bears do not eat when they're hibernating, their metabolic rate drops, and yeah, it's important for their survival to be fat.

Holly Gibbs (2:16)

So how does voting work?

Sarah Bruce (2:18)

There's five or so different cameras set up along the length of Brooks River and you can watch those basically 24-7 all summer long. And then the last week in September, we have Fat Bear Week where you can go to fatbearweek.org to cast your vote. So there will be a poll there. This year, we've had multiple polls every day until Fat Bear Tuesday when we crown our winner.

Holly Gibbs (2:40)

And the winner has been crowned. Backpack, could you tell me a bit about him?

Sarah Bruce (2:45)

Yeah, bear 89 All of the bears have numbers. That's how we monitor the bears on the river. The same bears come back to the river every year because they know that it's a successful place to be. And so this bear is 89

He got his nickname Backpack. When he was just a first year cub, he had a injury to his paw. And so he would ride on his mother's back when she was swimming in the river.

It looked like he was a little backpack on his mother's back. So that's how he got his name. And he's just been a really resilient, steady, reliable bear every year. He's not the most dominant, but he's not the least dominant bear either.

Holly Gibbs (3:24)

Yes. And you mentioned Backpack's mother. She's actually won it before, hasn't she?

Sarah Bruce (3:28)

Yes. His mother 435, nicknamed Holly, she won in 2019 and she was a bear seen regularly on the river for a very long time. Yeah, she was a very successful bear. There's photos online of her just looking super, super, super fat. But she was very successful that year that she won in 2019 because the next year she came out of the den with a cub. So that is always a sign of success for mother bears is when they are really fat. And then the next year they are that winter, they're able to support a pregnancy and come back with cubs.

Holly Gibbs (4:01)

I'm honored to share my name with a winner of the Fat Bear Week. I will say that. What do you think it was about Backpack that won lots of votes?

Sarah Bruce (4:11)

He is one of the bears that we've been able to watch since the webcams were put in in 2012 And I think people have been watching him for a very long time. He's 20

So he's moving up in age. He's a senior bear. The lifespan we expect is about 25 to 30 years. And people have just been watching him for a really long time. So he's got this big fan base. And I think folks were campaigning for him to win.