Despite a grisly setback, voting for the annual Fat Bear Week at Katmai National Park & ​​Preserve is set to begin this week. The AP reports that the 10th annual “chunk-off,” where fans can choose which bear is the fattest in this part of the Alaska Peninsula after a season of winter eating, will actually open to voters on Wednesday. But on Monday, when this year’s corpulent contestants were due to be introduced to the public, that segment was delayed after Bear 402, the mother of at least eight litters who was widely expected to appear as a contestant, was killed by Bear 469. a male bear, during a morning scuffle in the Brooks River, according to NPR.

The outlet notes that “amazed” viewers watching online via webcam witnessed the pair “engaged in a long and violent fight in deep water at the river mouth – a clash that ultimately ended with a female bear being killed.” died and the other dragged her body to shore”. You can view it here along with the analysis. From the video, 402 appears to have been overwhelmed by her male counterpart and drowned, according to explore.org naturalist Mike Fitz. After the murder, the announcement of this year’s participant lists was postponed from Monday to Tuesday evening.

Although experts don’t know exactly what prompted 469 to attack 402, they say the male bear saw the female bear as prey. “This time of year, bears eat everything they can,” Katmai ranger Sarah Bruce tells NPR. But “I don’t know why a bear would expend so much energy killing another bear for food. It is unusual for a bear to hunt another bear. But it is not completely ruled out.” No impacts are planned for Bear 469. “It’s just part of bear behavior and bear life,” Bruce says. “That’s one of the sadder parts of it.” Voting for Fat Bear Week lasts until Tuesday; Meet the competitors here. (More Fat Bear Week stories.)