March Napness Recap
The Nap Recap to catch you up on the sleepy action from years past
This March marks the start of our fourth annual March Napness Competition--a bracket style tournament based on the NCAA's March Madness--where, instead of tracking basketball wins and losses--we track which rescued bears hibernate the longest at our bear sanctuaries around the world.
The competition begins again in March of 2026!
The last three years of competition have brought many bracket-busting surprises and nail biting championship sleeps. We've got all the exciting details in the Nap Recap below!
The Nap Recap
2023: The first year of competition
In the beginning, everyone slept peacefully
The inaugural year of March Napness started with 22 bears competing for 6 bear sanctuaries. Hopes were high as all the bears slept soundly through the winter in their cozy dens.
Week 1, Bear Erich is an early riser
Bear Erich from BEAR SANCTUARY Arbesbach was our earliest riser of 2023, making him the first bear to be eliminated from the competition. (However, he was also the first bear to enjoy some yummy snacks and time in the sunshine, so maybe Erich won at his own game).
Several of the bears from the other 5 sanctuaries made brief appearances outside their dens, but ultimately decided to go back to sleep (Marinka, Luna, Michal, Stivi, Andri, and the bears at Arosa and Domazhyr).
Week 2, Four bears awaken
Week 2 was quite a popular week to awaken in 2023 with four bears ending their hibernation:
Suzana from BEAR SANCTUARY Belitsa, Sam from Arosa Bear Sanctuary, and both Vova and Kvitka from BEAR SANCTUARY Domazhyr.
Week 3, Luna is a bracket buster
Week 3 brought the competition's biggest surprise, with notorious long sleeper, Luna from BEAR SANCTUARY Müritz, awakening on March 21. Partners Sylvia & Pavle and Bear Michal also awakened at Müritz in week 3, making Mascha Team Müritz's 2023 champion.
Several other sanctuaries crowned their champions this week as well: Potap from BEAR SANCTUARY Domazhyr entered the semifinals when fellow Domazhyr competitors Sirko & Ruta awakened. And Svetla, who is also competing in the 2025 competition, slept longer than any other bear at BEAR SANCTUARY Belitsa when Bobby and Marinka called it quits.
Elsewhere, Oska awakend at BEAR SANCTUARY Prishtina, as did Jamila at Arosa Bear Sanctuary, setting up partners Amelia & Meimo in a (sleepy)head to head showdown for the semifinals.
Week 4, fan favorite Potap awakens
The last week of March brought more surprises as fan favorite Potap awoke on March 28. Although this meant that BEAR SANCTUARY Domazhyr had no more bears in the competition, on the bright side, fans could now enjoy Potap's springtime antics in person and online!
Stivi, another fan favorite from BEAR SANCTUARY Prishtina, also awoke in week 4. Six bears representing four sanctuaries still remained in the competition as the month of March came to a close.
Week 5, The Final Four
The first week of April gave us our Final Four Sleeping Champions! Ari, Mascha, Amelia & Meimo slept their way to this competition milestone, while bears Svetla from BEAR SANCTUARY Belitsa and Andri from BEAR SANCTUARY Prishtina decided it was time to rise and shine.
Week 6, The final two contenders
After 6 sleepy weeks, we had our March Napness Finalists! Mascha from BEAR SANCTUARY Müritz and Ari from BEAR SANCTUARY Prishtina slept their way to the championship round!
Even though partners Amelia & Meimo didn't make it to the March Napness finals, they still held the Swiss co-champion title from Arosa Bear Sanctuary.
Week 7, The big snooze continues
Both finalists, Ari and Mascha remained asleep during week 7, and anticipation built as the championship snoozing match stretched on!
Week 8, Mascha is crowned Champion
Mascha from BEAR SANCTUARY Müritz officially won the first ever March Napness competition, valiantly out-sleeping our runner up, bear Ari from BEAR SANCTUARY Prishtina.
2024: The second year of competition
23 Bears compete for the sleepy crown
In 2024, 23 bears from 6 of our sanctuaries competed for the championship. Defending champion, Mascha, took a year off from competition, leaving the field wide open for a new champ.
Week 1: The Arbesbach awakenings
For the second year in a row, bear Erich awoke in week 1 of the competition, and this time he was joined by fellow BEAR SANCTUARY Arbesbach resident, Brumca. This gave hibernation rookie, Mark, an early victory as sleepiest bear at our Austrian sanctuary.
Week 2: Rookie Mark calls it quits
Rescued just one year prior, bear Mark had never lived in an environment that enabled him to hibernate until he was brought to his forever home at BEAR SANCTUARY Arbesbach. Now with the proper conditions around him, Mark was able to enjoy his first winter slumber. Though he only made it to week 2, Mark's first hibernation won fans across the globe, and he was even featured in on People.com!
Week 3: An action-packed week of awakenings
A lot of action took place in week 3 of the tournament, with 5 bears ending their winter slumber: Marinka and Dana from BEAR SANCTUARY Belitsa in Bulgaria, as well as bear Sylvia and sisters Dasha & Lelya from BEAR SANCTUARY Müritz.
Meanwhile, the rest of our competing bears slept their way into the next round.
Week 4: Bracket busters from Arosa
Week 4 brought a big surprise, as last year's co-semifinalists, partners Amelia & Meimo from Arosa Bear Sanctuary awoke much earlier than they had the previous season. Michal from BEAR SANCTUARY Müritz and Ema from BEAR SANCTUARY Prishtina also decided they'd had enough rest and left the competition in the last week of March. Bears from five sanctuaries still continued to compete for the sleepy crown.
Week 5: The Prishtina pact
The beginning of April brought another surprise, in an act of sleepy solidarity, all 3 remaining bears from BEAR SANCTUARY Prishtina decided to call it quits. Along with Hana and Ero, this included bear Ari, the runner up from our 2023 competition.
Bear Svetla also awakened in week 5, making her companion Jeta the Bulgarian champion at BEAR SANCTUARY Belitsa.
Week 6: The Final Four
The Final Four competitors snoozed their way to the semifinals in week 6 of the sleepfest! Sam & Jamila from Arosa Bear Sanctuary joined Tyson from BEAR SANCTUARY Domazhyr and Dushi from BEAR SANCTUARY Müritz.
After catching some impressive zzz's in the quarter finals, Laska and Masha from BEAR SANCTUARY Domazhyr and Jeta from BEAR SANCTUARY Belitsa decided they'd had enough rest.
Week 7: A Real claw-biter at the finish line
The final week of competition was a real photo finish, as all final four bears awoke within a few days of one another. Tyson from BEAR SANCTUARY Domazhyr and Sam & Jamila from Arosa Bear Sanctuary showed amazing sleepy perseverance, but bear Dushi from BEAR SANCTUARY Müritz outslept them all by just a couple of days to claim the 2024 championship!
Addendum to 2024: saying goodbye to Dushi
In a sad turn of events, we had to say goodbye to our 2024 champion, Dushi. "Every colleague has wonderful memories of Dushi as a very special bear with a very special fate. We were able to give Dushi five wonderful years in our sanctuary. That is a comforting feeling," said Petra Konermann, press officer at BEAR SANCTUARY Müritz.
Our team had been planning a special meal for the March Napness winners along with plant-based Chef Priyanka Naik. And though Dushi sadly passed before the celebration, her teammates at Müritz were able to enjoy the special meal.
Dushi was very beloved by our staff and the public, and though she is gone, she will always be remembered in our history and our hearts.
2025: Year three of the tournament
The sleepy competition begins
23 bears from six sanctuaries embarked on their awakening journey in 2025! The year one champion, Mascha was back to defend her title for BEAR SANCTUARY Müritz, and the runners up from 2024, Tyson from BEAR SANCTUARY Domazhyr and Sam & Jamila from Arosa Bear Sanctuary were also returning and hungry for the crown.
Week 1: The first week brings a huge surprise
Week 1 of competition began with a bracket buster! 2024 runner up, Tyson, from BEAR SANCTUARY Domazhyr awoke much earlier than in previous years. He was joined by Brumca from BEAR SANCTUARY Arbesbach, who for the first time in March Napness history awoke before her Arbesbach buddy, Erich, who has historically been the first bear out of the competition.
Week 2: The early birds...er, bears
While bear Erich from BEAR SANCTUARY Arbesbach awoke in week 2, he still slept a full week longer than he did in 2023 and 2024 when he was the first bear eliminated from competition. A big accomplishment for the charismatic bear from Austria! Joining Erich in week 2 was Rambunctious Rocco, who is known for being very active and playful and couldn’t wait to get out into the spring sunshine at BEAR SANCTUARY Müritz in Germany.
Week 3: A record-breaker
March 18 brought more awakenings than had ever occurred in the competition before with 6 bears ending their hibernation. It was goodbye to the competition, but hello to the springtime for Ida from BEAR SANCTUARY Müritz, Iva and Svetla from BEAR SANCTUARY Belitsa, Frankie from BEAR SANCTUARY Domazhyr, Amelia from Arosa Bear Sanctuary, and Mal from BEAR SANCTUARY Prishtina.
Week 4: A real sleeper
After a big week 3, the fourth week of competition was rather quiet, with only two bears awakening: Michal, from BEAR SANCTUARY Müritz and Julia from BEAR SANCTUARY Domazhyr. These eliminations led to the two slumberous Mas(c)has being crowned their sanctuary sleepy champions in Germany and Ukraine!
At BEAR SANCTUARY Belitsa in Bulgaria, Jeta and Suzana continued their quarterfinal nap battle, and there must have been some extra zzzz’s in the mountain air of Switzerland and the valleys of Kosovo where three bears remained in the competition at both Arosa Bear Sanctuary and BEAR SANCTUARY Prishtina.
Week 5: Another bracket buster
The fifth week of March Napness competition brought another bracket buster, as 2023 Champion and top-seeded competi-bear, Mascha, awoke! With all four contestants from BEAR SANCTUARY Müritz out of the tournament, this meant that after two championship years in a row, our German team wouldn't make it a threepeat. Also, awakening this week was bear Meimo, from Arosa Bear Sanctuary and Suzana from BEAR SANCTUARY Belitsa.
These awakenings meant that Jeta won the sleepiest bear title at BEAR SANCTUARY Belitsa for the 2nd year running, and the Bulgarian Queen of Slumber joined Mark from BEAR SANCTUARY Arbesbach and Masha (the other one!) from BEAR SANCTUARY Domazhyr in the semifinals.
Week 6: A bye bye from Belitsa
Jeta from BEAR SANCTUARY Belitsa was the last Bulgarian bear to wake up this season, and although she didn’t take home the all-around championship, she still won the Bulgarian crown for the second year in a row!
The final seven bears were still sleeping strong, with three bears from BEAR SANCTUARY Prishtina Tomi, Mira, and Hana, joining Mark from BEAR SANCTUARY Arbesbach, siblings Sam and Jamila from Arosa Bear Sanctuary, and Masha from BEAR SANCTUARY Domazhyr.
Week 7: The fab five
The Swiss Siblings, Sam and Jamila, said “dream on” to their competitors, leaving us with the fab five: Mark from BEAR SANCTUARY Arbesbach in Austria, Masha from BEAR SANCTUARY Domazhyr in Ukraine, Mira, Tomi, and Hana from BEAR SANCTUARY Prishtina in Kosovo.
This year’s March Napness was one for the history books as Mark, Hana, and Masha all surpassed their S.N.O.R.E. (Sleepiest Nap on REcord) from last year! It’s always inspiring to see a bear reach for their personal best!
Week 8: No match for Masha
Masha from BEAR SANCTUARY Domazhyr in Ukraine is the March Napness 2025 Champion! Congratulations to Masha and the whole team from Domazhyr for an amazing sleep performance!
The final week of snoozing competition couldn’t have been more exciting with all 5 remaining bears waking up within days of one another. We had to consult the caretakers at the sanctuaries (aka: the referees) to figure out the exact order the bears awoke. Hana from BEAR SANCTUARY Prishtina was the first to awaken, and two days later, Mira decided she had all the rest she needed. This put three snoozing athletes in the March Napness Finals: Mark from Arbesbach, Masha from Domazhyr, and Tomi from Prishtina. In an amazing turn of events, Mark and Tomi woke up on the exact same day! Their awakenings could not have been closer, and our refs have officially called the runner-up match a tie.
In a dominant sleeping performance, Masha outslept all the rest, officially awakening two days later. Her commitment to sleep is truly inspiring, and Masha’s sleep-leticism is something we all can aspire to!
Stay tuned for March Napness 2026 coming soon!