If you want, you can play against a kodiak bear.

Yes, Major League Eating: The Game was released recently for the Wii Nintendo console, and among the competitors is a giant kodiak bear. One would think that the bear would not only win the contest but probably eat the rest of the competitors, but since this is a virtual game it’s allowable that the bear might actually lose to a puny Mii.

If you’ve got a Wii and an internet connection, the game is definitely worth checking out. It’s very cheap - only 1000 Wii points, which is about $10 - and provides some quick thrills to those who like seeing fake people eat way more than should be humanly possible.

Ali Oop, a giant male kodiak bear known for his part in several popular Hollywood movies, died last month at the (human) age of 27. The old bear, who’d had a large piece of metal removed from his foot, couldn’t naturally fight off inevitable infection and eventually died of the wound.

Oop had been living at the Alberta wildlife park for several years and was raised by trainer Ruth Labarge, who has been in mourning ever since.

Oop appeared in several movies and commercials, including Dr. DoLittle 2, Wild America and Trueheart. After ‘retiring’ from the business in 2004 Oop returned to Alberta, and was popular for his general kindness towards visitors by ‘kissing’ (licking) them.

The best place to look for the bears is the Frazier River, with several high bear viewing spots for the public. It’s also possible to charter air taxis, boats and lodges to view the bears.

Unfortunately the sites for viewing are concentrated around prime feeding grounds for the bears, which means that the bears may avoid the areas because of humans. If such is the case then they may miss out on the kind of fat they need to survive. How bear viewing will affect local populations in the future is, as yet, uncertain.

That said there are occasional bear attacks that result from poor decision making or just bad planning on the part of humans. Kodiak bears, though skittish around humans, can be attracted by a range of scents normally eminating from human food or from recent kills made by hunters. Once drawn in the bears may be startled or enraged by the humans they find. How the bear reacts next will depend largely on how the human reacts.

Luckily there are very few recorded fatal encounters with Kodiak bears, with the majority of encounters consisting of close yet harmless brushes or minor to occasionally major injuries. The last fatal incident happened in 1999 when an Anchorage hunter was mauled and left for dead by a Kodiak; before that there hadn’t been a killing from a Kodiak since 1921. As long as visitors know how to treat the bears and are careful how they tread through the woods there isn’t much to fear.

It is a common misconception that Kodiak bears are carnivores, meaning that they eat other animals exclusively. Actually, Kodiak bears eat grass, berries, and other foliage more than they eat other animals. Kodiak bears, like all bears, use the most nutritious parts of what they eat to optimize their growth.

The Kodiak bear eats grass during their rapid growth in the spring. Berries, when they are most ripe and filled with sugar, are consumed by the bears as well. Though Kodiak bears rarely expend the effort to chase down living food, they eat the internal organs of other large animals such as cows, elk, and deer if they can scavenge them. Also, as with other bears, Kodiak bears love to eat fish. Salmon are particularly attractive to the large brown bears. The brains and eggs are the most desirable parts for Kodiak bears to eat. Due to the large abundance of food on the Kodiak islands, the hunting ranges of Kodiak bears are some the smallest of all brown bears. They also don’t need to defend their territories as food is plentiful, and there is always something for Kodiak bears to eat.

An average length of ten feet, and a weight of 1,500 lbs., make Kodiak bears not only some of the largest bears in existence, but also some of the biggest legal game to be found on the continent of North America. Hunting Kodiak bears is legal, as they are not listed as endagered by the US Fish and Wildlife service, or the Endangered Species program. However, hunters must have a valid Alaska hunting license, Big Game Tag Record, brown bear locking tag, and one of two permits.

All non-Alaskan residents are required to bring a guide when hunting Kodiak Bears. Hunters may only kill one bear per season, with cubs and females being off limits. Guided non-Alaskan residents currently have a 75% chance of success when hunting Kodiak Bears. There are a few services in Alaska, which sell commercial Kodiak bear hunts. More information on hunting Kodiak Bears can be found at the Alaska Deprartment of Fish & Game.