A looming government shutdown threatens to claw its way into a crowd-pleasing Alaska tradition: Fat Bear Week.
Bear raid on Krispy Kreme! Ursine invaders sack Alaska doughnut truckRead more
Alaska’s most-watched popularity contest, Fat Bear Week involves residents picking their favorite fat brown bear who’s been stocking up for winter by noshing on salmon in Katmai national park & preserve. Viewers of the bears vote online in tournament-style brackets for those they want to advance to the next round until a champion is crowned in the weeklong contest.
More than 1m votes were cast last year.
Problem is, national park employees count and release those votes – and a shutdown will not allow them to do so because it would trigger a ban on using the park’s official social media accounts for as long as the government is closed.
A brown bear stands to get a better view while fishing for sockeye salmon in the Katmai national park and preserve. Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images
“Should a lapse happen, we will need to postpone Fat Bear Week,” Cynthia Hernandez, a park spokesperson, said in an email to the Associated Press.
Last year’s contest was even rocked by scandal as organizers discovered that the ballot box had been “stuffed” in favor of a brown bear named Holly.
“Like bears stuff their face with fish, our ballot box, too, has been stuffed,” Katmai national park tweeted. “It appears someone has decided to spam the Fat Bear Week poll, but fortunately it is easy for us to tell which votes are fraudulent.”
Bear number 747 was crowned the fattest at the national park during Fat Bear Week in 2020. Photograph: N Boak/Katmai National Park and Preserve/PA
If Congress does not reach an agreement to fund the federal government, operations will shut down Sunday. This year’s Fat Bear Week contest is set to begin Wednesday.
The National Park Service estimates that 2,200 brown bears inhabit the park, a number exceeding the people who live on the peninsula. They have six to eight months to eat a year’s worth of food and ensure their survival through winter, according to the service.
The competition to determine which ursine candidate has gained the most between summer and fall began in 2014 and has become globally popular. Katmai park rangers select 12 bears and provide two photos of the animals, one taken in mid-July and the other taken in early-September.
skip past newsletter promotion
Sign up to First Thing
Free daily newsletter
Our US morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters
“,”newsletterId”:”us-morning-newsletter”,”successDescription”:”Our US morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters”}” clientOnly config=””renderingTarget”:”Web””>Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to…
2023-09-30 06:00:12
Original from www.theguardian.com
rnrn
