Fat Bear

In past years I’ve taken part in voting during Alaska’s Katmai Peninsula Fat Bear Week but this year I decided not to. Last year there was a participant who had suffered a broken jaw and it troubled me too much. His jaw had healed and he got plenty of salmon to take part in the competition but still, animal difficulties really upset me. I don’t know if that guy was in it or made it to the finals this year but when my friend texted me and told me Fat Bear Week was here again, I declined her invitation to follow along and cast a vote. So the other day I saw in the news that a bear called “Backpack” was the 2026 winner. He’d gotten the title because of his propensity to ride on his mother’s back when he was a cub. (His mother, Holly, incidentally was a former Fat Bear Week champion so I guess he comes by his girth honestly.) Anyway, the thing that impressed me the most was that every single media outlet commenting on his win made note of the fact that he was not like others who had claimed the title in previous years. NBC called him a “Gentle Giant” and AP said “Backpack uses his ‘quiet strength’ rather than brawling and is often seen in wildlife cameras sitting on a rock downstream, appearing to take in the scenery around him”. I’m not holding my breath, but I’m hoping Backpack might turn out to be a role model in mindful leadership for people in powerful positions.

Photo of “Backpack” courtesy of Associated Press