Someone stuffed the ballot box, but 'bearplane' 747 is still the fattest bear at Alaska's Brooks River

Bear Force One, Jumbo Jet, Bearplane — by all accounts, Bear 747 is one corpulent critter. 

He was gigantic back in July, when the bears at Brooks River in Alaska began chowing down on salmon to pack on the winter weight. He grew more gigantic as the weeks wore on, and emerged victorious Tuesday as the winner of everyone's favourite flabby-animal contest, Fat Bear Week 2022 — despite fake votes being cast for one of his competitors.

As the name suggests, Fat Bear Week is dedicated to drumming up public interest in brown bears that are getting ready to hibernate for the winter. The bears are experiencing hyperphagia, meaning they don't ever feel full as they sit and gorge themselves on salmon.

The week, which pits the unwitting bears against each other online in an elimination-style competition, has exploded in popularity since it first began eight years ago. This year, people cast over a million votes for their favourite candidates.

"It means the world to us," said Chris Kliesrath, a park ranger with the Katmai National Park and Preserve.

"It gives us the opportunity to share how healthy our ecosystem is ... By being invested in the bears, we hope they're invested in doing what they can to contribute to conservation, especially in the Alaska area with the bears."

Bear 747 fits all the plane-related monikers the park heaps on him — two years ago, when he won the title for the first time, the park estimated his weight at 1,400 pounds — but he wasn't always as big as he is now.

Kliesrath said he used to be quite small when he was young, but "he's definitely grown into his name."

"Seeing him in person is amazing. He's a little beat up, because he is one of the more dominant bears so he does defend his territories and his mating rights. But he's a very strong bear, very resilient and so he's earned his title," Kliesrath said.

He had some fierce competition this year, most notably from a young female who grew to epic proportions over the summer. Back in July, when Bear 901 was but a shadow of her current self, she didn't seem to even be a contender for the crown — but before-and-after photos show her journey from Just A Lil' Bebe to Chonk Champion.

Bear 747 also had some competition of the human kind, when one passionate voter spammed the online polls during the semifinals for another of his challengers, Bear 435 (also known as Holly). Holly was trailing him by about 6,000 votes before that happened, and the surge in support for her caught the eye of Explore.org, which partners with the park to hold the event.

"While not unheard of, it is very uncommon for a bear to come back late in the day like that," wrote Candice Rusch, the director of new media for Explore.org, in an email. Her team weeded out the fake votes — about 9,000 of them, and even a few that had been cast for 747 — and added security measures to stop future spamming.

"The important thing to remember is that despite which bear wins the most votes in the Fat Bear Week competition, they are all winners," Rusch wrote.

"We hope that the awareness that Fat Bear Week brings will grow into caring, and action in whatever way makes the most sense for each individual."

Kliesrath said some bears have now left the river, while others will stay until the salmon run winds down. 

"Lack of food is a major trigger for them to know it's time to go into hibernation. That, in combination with the shortening days and cooler temperatures, kind of signal them that it's time to hit the road and find some place for winter," she explained.