Alaska

Voting begins for Alaska's Fat Bear Week after a contestant was killed in an attack

Published

1 year ago

October 3, 2024

Voting begins for Alaska's Fat Bear Week after a contestant was killed in an attack

Voting in Katmai National Park’s famed Fat Bear Week was underway Wednesday after a bear killed one of this year’s competitors and delayed the bracket reveal by a day.

Bear #469 attacked and killed bear #402 on Monday morning at Brooks River in the Alaska park, the National Park Service said in a release, pushing Monday’s bracket reveal to Tuesday.

The attack and the subsequent killing were captured live on webcams that have been set up in the park to follow the bears all summer. The nonprofit organization explore.org, which hosts and broadcasts the bear livestreams, held a live conversation Monday to discuss the attack.

It was not immediately clear what prompted the incident.

Fat Bear Week. (K. Moore / Katmai National Park via Reuters) — Bear #402 in Katmai National Park. The bear was killed Monday in an attack.

“National parks like Katmai protect not only the wonders of nature, but also the harsh realities,” spokesperson Matt Johnson said in the park service release. “Each bear seen on the webcams is competing with others to survive.”

Bear #469 was not included in the bracket, released Tuesday.

How Fat Bear Week works

Fat Bear Week, which the park service calls “an annual celebration of success,” puts 12 bears in the Alaskan Peninsula to the test before they head into hibernation for the winter.

Voting takes place over seven days, culminating in Fat Bear Tuesday, when one bear is crowned the fattest of the season.

“People may vote using any criteria they see fit,” the National Park Service said. “In the end, one bear will reign supreme.”

Explore.org encourages voters to “vote for the bear you believe best exemplifies fatness and success in brown bears.”

“Fat equals survival” for bears, who head into their dens for months without any food and could lose up to one-third of their body weight during that time, the park service said. Surviving hibernation means bulking up on a year’s worth of salmon and other snacks in only six months.

Large male brown bears can weigh up to 1,500 pounds in coastal areas or up to 500 pounds in interior areas, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and they can be 30% to 50% larger than female brown bears.

They weigh the least when they leave hibernation in the spring and can increase their weight by more than 50% by the time they re-enter the den in the fall.

The fat bears of 2024

This year’s contest pits eight bears against one another in the first round of the single-elimination bracket. Voting began Wednesday and will continue Thursday.

Four more bears earned a bye to the second round of voting Friday and Saturday.

In round one, Bear #909 Jr., who won this year’s junior contest, bested Bear #519, a female recently independent from her family. Bear #909 Jr. will now try to beat Bear #128, also known as Grazer, a mother bear who holds last year’s Fat Bear title.

Grazer is described as one of the “most formidable, successful, and adaptable bears” at Brooks River, according to the park service. In July, both of her cubs were “swept over Brooks Falls” toward Bear #32, also known as Chunk, who attacked and injured one of them before Grazer could come to their rescue.

The injured cub died later, and the surviving cub competed in Fat Bear Junior 2024, according to the park service.

Chunk, who the park service said is the “most dominant bear on the Brooks River,” has a bye and will face the winner of the Thursday matchup between Bear #856, a very large adult male who is one of the biggest on the river, and Bear #504, a mother bear and newcomer to the competition.

In another round one faceoff, Bear #903, a smaller male and another Fat Bear Week newbie, beat Bear #909, the mother of the junior contest’s winner. He will go head-to-head with Bear #747, a two-time Fat Bear Week victor so large he was named after an airplane and was once estimated to weigh 1,400 pounds.

The final round one matchup is between Bear #151, a large adult male nicknamed Walker” and Bear #901, a female who returned to the river alone after her first litter of cubs did not survive. The winner will move on to round two to meet Bear #164, a male who has grown a lot in the last few years, now appearing about as tall and as long as Bear #747.

Voting concludes Tuesday, and the fattest bear will be declared the winner.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

Source link

Click to comment

Alaska

Musician performs under the aurora in Nenana — without gloves, in 17 degrees

Published

8 hours ago

February 28, 2026

Press Room

Musician performs under the aurora in Nenana — without gloves, in 17 degrees

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – A musician with Alaska Native roots recorded an hour-long live set in Interior Alaska beneath the aurora.

Chastity Ashley, a drummer, vocalist and DJ who performs under the name Neon Pony, celebrated a year since she traveled to Nenana to record a live music set beneath the northern lights for her series Beats and Hidden Retreats.

Ashley, who has Indigenous roots in New Mexico, said she was drawn to Alaska in part because of the role drums play in Alaska Native culture. A handmade Alaskan hand drum, brought to her by a man from just outside Anchorage, was incorporated into the performance in February 2025.

Recording in the cold

The team spent eight days in Nenana waiting for the aurora to appear. Ashley said the lights did not come out until around 4 a.m., and she performed a continuous, uninterrupted hour-long set in 17-degree weather without gloves.

“It was freezing. I couldn’t wear gloves because I’m actually playing, yeah, hand drums and holding drumsticks. And there was ice underneath my feet,” Ashley said.

“So, I had to really utilize my balance and my willpower and my ability to just really immerse in the music and let go and make it about the celebration of what I was doing as opposed to worrying about all the other elements or what could go wrong.”

She said she performed in a leotard to allow full range of motion while drumming, DJing and singing.

Filming on Nenana tribal land

Ashley said she did not initially know the filming location was on indigenous land. After local authorities told her the decision was not theirs to make, she contacted the Nenana tribe directly for permission.

“I went into it kind of starting to tell them who I was and that I too was a part of a native background,” Ashley said. “And they just did not even care. They’re like, listen, we’re about to have a party for one of our friends here. Go and do what you like.”

Ashley said the tribe gave her full permission to film on the reservation, and that the aurora footage seen in the episode was captured there.

Seeing the aurora for the first time

Ashley said the Nenana performance marked her first time seeing the northern lights in person.

“It felt as if I were awake in a dream,” she said. “It really doesn’t seem real.”

She said she felt humbled and blessed to perform beneath the aurora and to celebrate its beauty and grandeur through her music.

“I feel incredibly humbled and blessed that not only did I get to take part in seeing something like that, but to play underneath it and celebrate its beauty and its grandeur.”

The Alaska episode is the second installment of Beats and Hidden Retreats, which is available on YouTube at @NeonPony. Ashley said two additional episodes are in production and she hopes to make it back up to Alaska in the future.

See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com

Source link

Alaska

Over $150K worth of drugs seized from man in Juneau, police say

Published

20 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Over 0K worth of drugs seized from man in Juneau, police say

JUNEAU, Alaska (KTUU) – An Alaska drug task force seized roughly $162,000 worth of controlled substances during an operation in Juneau Thursday, according to the Juneau Police Department.

Around 3 p.m. Thursday, investigators with the Southeast Alaska Cities Against Drugs (SEACAD) approached 50-year-old Juneau resident Jermiah Pond in the Nugget Mall parking lot while he was sitting in his car, according to JPD.

A probation search of the car revealed a container holding about 7.3 gross grams of a substance that tested presumptively positive for methamphetamine, as well as about 1.21 gross grams of a substance that tested presumptively positive for fentanyl.

As part of the investigation, investigators executed a search warrant at Pond’s residence, during which they found about 46.63 gross grams of ketamine, 293.56 gross grams of fentanyl, 25.84 gross grams of methamphetamine and 25.5 gross grams of MDMA.

In all, it amounted to just less than a pound of drugs worth $162,500.

Investigators also seized $102,640 in cash and multiple recreational vehicles believed to be associated with the investigation.

Pond was lodged on charges of second-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance, two counts of third-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance, five counts of fourth-degree misconduct involving a substance and an outstanding felony probation warrant.

See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com

Source link

Alaska

Sand Point teen found 3 days after going missing in lake

Published

1 day ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Sand Point teen found 3 days after going missing in lake

SAND POINT, Alaska (KTUU) – A teenage boy who was last seen Monday when the canoe he was in tipped over has been found by a dive team in a lake near Sand Point, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Alaska’s News Source confirmed with the person, who is close to the search efforts, that the dive team found 15-year-old Kaipo Kaminanga deceased Thursday in Red Cove Lake, located a short drive from the town of Sand Point on the Aleutian Island chain.

Kaminanga was last seen canoeing with three other friends on Monday when the boat tipped over.

A search and rescue operation ensued shortly after.

Alaska Dive Search Rescue and Recovery Team posted on Facebook Thursday night that they were able to “locate and recover” Kaminanga at around 5 p.m. Thursday.

“We are glad we could bring closure to his family, friends and community,” the post said.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated when more details become available.

See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com

Source link