Fat Squirrel Week 2026: Voting closes tonight for yearly Texas contest
AUSTIN, Texas - If you want to weigh in and crown the winner of this year's Fat Squirrel Week, you don't have long to vote!
Voting closes at 6 p.m. CT tonight (Oct. 23).
Meet the finalists
Big picture view:
It's down to two finalists: Chungus and Squirrelly Temple.
Chungus
Chungus is from Cooper State Park Doctors Creek, located in Delta County, northeast of Dallas.
Texas Parks and Wildlife says that Chungus has faced "a hard life since the age of 2 when his Momma mysteriously disappeared during a seemingly harmless road crossing in the big city".
Squirrelly Temple
Squirrelly Temple hails from Fort Parker State Park, south of Mexia and east of Waco.
TPWD says she is "famous for her rounded cheeks and a cheerful spirit you just can’t shake…despite her rather hairy feet, these twinkle toes can tap a mean beat."
"Other fat squirrels should give up the fight, cause as Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, ‘As long as we have Squirrelly Temple, we’ll be alright!’," TPWD said.
Roosevelt created the Civilian Conservation Corps, which built Fort Parker State Park in the late 1930s to early 1940s.
How do I vote?
What you can do:
To vote, go to Texas Parks and Wildlife's Facebook page and like, comment or tag a friend under the photo of your pick! Each reaction or comment counts as a vote.
Reactions and comments to the main post will not count towards the total.
The winner will be announced later this evening (Oct. 23) after voting closes.
What is Fat Squirrel Week?
Why you should care:
Fat Squirrel Week is an annual social media competition between Texas state parks. Each park picks a squirrel to represent them.
The squirrels in question are snacking and plumping up in order to hibernate through the colder winter months.
The competition began on Sunday, Oct. 18 with 16 squirrels.
The Source: Information in this report comes from the Texas Parks & Wildlife Facebook page. This story is reported from Austin, Texas.