KIMMIRUT/LAKE HARBOUR - A polar bear has been hanging around Kimmirut, attracted by leftover seal carcasses. It has also raided the community's dump site.

The animal has mostly stayed out on the sea ice, but has come close enough to town for kids to throw stones at it."They got their nomadic background back," said David Kolola with a laugh. He explained throwing stones at bears was how Inuit used to drive them away from their camps in the days before guns.

The animal, probably a young male, arrived around June 29 and has been coming dangerously close to the community every day since, usually in the morning and the evening.

Kolola said he is cautious walking to work, since there is an empty stretch of land between his office and his home.

Tommy Akavak, warden of Katannilik Territorial Park, said he used the usual non-lethal deterrents such as bear-bangers and warning shots from his rifle to try and scare the bear away.

Members of the RCMP detachment also fired several warning shots above the bear's head, but the bear has not stayed away.

If the bear continues to approach the community, it will have to be killed.

"Our elders will usually advise to shoot a bear that's potentially dangerous to the public, and this one is," said Seemeega Aqpik, manager of Mayukalik Hunters and Trappers Organization. "If it comes back too close to the town again, if it gets to our shoreline, we have no choice."

The hunters have been holding off shooting it while it is on the ice because they don't want to shoot it without being sure of killing it. If the bear is wounded but survives it will become much more dangerous, Aqpik said.