Frightening others has always been a big part of trick-or-treating tradition. But when it comes to polar bears, the fear is a bit too real for the small Inuit hamlet of Arviat in Canada's northernmost Nunavut territory.

The hamlet decided it will be holding all Halloween festivities indoors this year due to an increase in polar bear sightings this fall. Residents have seen an upswing in the number of bears wandering into town in recent years as warmer winters have diverted the animal's migration route to pass directly by the community of roughly 2,000 people.

The hamlet's governance met with members of the public last week to discuss safer alternatives to outdoor trick-or-treating, in light of the threat posed by the arctic predators. The community decided that kids will instead be able to take a shuttle bus to the local community hall, where organized trick-or-treating will be set up inside.

"Picture 1,200 kids going door to door in Arviat in the middle of polar bear season," Steve England, Arviat's senior administrative officer, told CBC.

"It's a pretty obvious conclusion of what tragedies could come out of that. We're just trying to safeguard the younger population by offering an alternative."

According to Polar Bears International, a conservation group, a warming winter climate has caused the Hudson Bay to freeze later in the year, on average, and for an increasingly shorter period. The delay forces the bears heading north for the winter to follow the coastline instead of venturing east onto the ice, leading them right through Arviat.