Fat Bear Week returns Monday – and the salmon are swimming for their lives

More than 1.7 million votes were cast from 100 countries before the public crowned the bear nicknamed "Chunk" as last year’s Fat Bear Week victor (Photo by Explore.org)

The bears have returned to the river and are packing on the pounds as another Fat Bear Week begins at Katmai National Park.

The 12th annual Fat Bear Week, in which the public will vote for the fattest of Katmai’s brown bears as mothers, cubs and males gather along the salmon-run at the Brooks River in Alaska begins on Monday.

The single-elimination tournament celebrates the park’s brown bears as they build their fat reserves ahead of their winter hibernation, and serves as an opportunity for distant viewers to enjoy the remote national park. Last year, more than 1.7 million votes were cast from 100 countries before the public crowned Bear 32, nicknamed “Chunk”, that year’s victor…(Read full story)