Strange life in the 'polar bear capital'

The small, cold town of Churchill, with difficult access in Canada, is known as the "polar bear capital", an attractive place to attract many adventurous tourists.

There's no road access to the Canadian town of Churchill, located near the northeastern tip of Manitoba, but that doesn't stop the thousands of train or plane travelers visiting each fall. The small town is inhabited by only about 900 people.

Polar bears are a "specialty" that attracts tourists in the town of Churchill.

The most attractive thing in this area is that visitors can go sightseeing and witness one of the largest carnivores in the world like the polar bear.

The Churchill region is one of the few southernmost places to find polar bears. These bears spend most of the year on the ice in the Hudson Bay area hunting for seals. When the ice melts in the summer, they have to come ashore for several months.

Carlos Osorio, a photographer who used to go to Churchill to photograph polar bears, said: "During the bear season, locals say they see it many times. The taxi driver who took me from the airport to the hotel told me that During the season, bears appear a lot, right before I arrived, there was a bear in the corner of the big yard of the town."

Photographer Carlos Osorio captured two polar bears playing in the snow.

In Churchill, encounters with the large creature were quite frequent. The town has taken several measures to reduce the risk to locals. There is a 24/7 hotline that people use to call to report a bear sighting.

There is a bear patrol with officers monitoring the area. The town has begun testing a new radar system to warn of approaching bears.

Polar bear attacks on humans are rare, most recently in 2013 with no fatal attacks since the early 1980s.

Locals develop the habit of leaving car doors unlocked in case someone needs to find a place to hide when they stumble across a polar bear on the road.

Carlos Osorio said: "You need to be careful, don't walk alone, there are some tools to scare away bears. Some people carry pistols and shoot into the air to scare the bears in case of an emergency. Of course you need a gun license."

According to the bear patrol, when they see a bear appear in town, the first measure they take is to scare them away. They can use rubber bullets, paintball guns to threaten to push the bear away from inhabited areas.

The old hangar is used as a place to temporarily hold polar bears before returning to the wild.

Snow falls along Kelsey Avenue in Churchill at night.

If the bear continues to enter town, they will trap the bear with bait or shoot it with tranquilizer bullets and transfer it to a makeshift prison.

At the holding site, which used to be a former hangar, the bear's health and monitoring equipment will be checked before releasing it into the wild.

Bear season peaks in October and November, before the Hudson Bay freezes over. This is when bears begin to migrate north and congregate near shore, so tourists have the best chance of seeing the bears.

In recent decades, bear season has become longer because of climate change. The ice melts earlier and freezes later, causing the bears to stay on land for longer periods of time.

Carlos Osorio said he enjoyed his trip to Churchill, warning of severe, very cold weather here. He had to go through a blizzard, cold wind, temperature down to minus 20 degrees Celsius.

In addition to polar bears, visitors have the opportunity to watch beluga whales congregating in the bay, enjoying the wild nature in cold regions.