The town of Churchill in Manitoba, Canada is known as the “Polar Bear Capital of the World.” Tourists go out on the tundra to see them in the wild. Now, as climate change shrinks their natural habitat, more and more bears are going into town. NBC News’ Anne Thompson follows the officials charged with keeping the bears out of town and speaks with Polar Bears International’s Geoff York about why this is happening.

“If we’re asking people to conserve a large predator like a polar bear, we have to make sure people who live and work with them are safe,” said Geoff York, the senior director of conservation and staff scientist at Polar Bears International, which has led testing of several versions of the equipment. The technology could be fully deployed for the first time as soon as next summer.

The findings appear in line with other recent studies of changes in the region. A report published last month by the nonprofit conservation group Polar Bears International found that the thickness of Arctic sea ice in some areas has thinned by more than 6 feet since the middle of the 20th century.