The World Wildlife Fund is putting up money to hire more polar bear patrols in Nunavut communities.

Last year, the environmental group paid for an Arviat, Nunavut, man to keep bears from wandering into town at night.

The hamlet is often harassed by bears; the WWF initiative was intended to reduce the number being shot for safety.

Now the organization said it has raised enough money to look at hiring more bear patrols.

"We recognize that Arviat is not the only community that is experiencing challenges with polar bears coming into communities, and we'd really like to see about how we can expand to other communities that are facing that problem, and put in place solutions - really learn from what's been gained so far," said the WWF’s Martin Von Mirbach.

The WWF said it has raised more than $2 million this year for its Arctic program.

Part of that money will go to Nunavut communities to hire patrols.

Part of that money came from Coca-Cola, which launched a polar-bear themed campaign last fall. The company introduced a special white can for Coke, and committed $2 million to WWF over five years.

Besides polar bear patrols, the money is being used to try to protect bear habitat, and to open a WWF office in Iqaluit.