As summer sea ice steadily disappears in Hudson Bay, more polar bears have been forced to stay on land, providing a lot more man hours for the Polar Bear Alert Team. According to Yale Environment 360, a publication by the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, these white-furred creatures are almost becoming a nuisance for Churchill residents.

Several hundred polar bears call this small town their home every July when the last chunks of sea ice melt. Historically, the bears usually spend about four months on land before returning to the Arctic sea to hunt seals, but in recent years, bears are arriving as early as June and staying until November.

Conservation workers in Manitoba had to close the town's dump, which was beginning to attract a large number of the bears, but so far this attempt to control their population has proved futile. Worried that the creatures will have nothing to eat on land, biologists and volunteers created a holding facility for the bears to remain until the ice reforms in late Fall.

The Polar Bear Alert Program was created to act as a liaison between polar bears and Churchill residents.