A scientist at Polar Bears International, Alysa McCall, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) that polar bears rarely attacked humans.

She said when attacks did happen, the bears were often hungry, young or unwell.

"A healthy polar bear that's out on the sea ice is not going to have a lot of incentive to attack a human being," Ms McCall told CBC.

"It could be that [when] this attack happened, maybe this bear was a little hungrier than usual."

She said as climate change caused ocean temperatures to fluctuate, breaking up sea ice, some bears were forced to travel further inland for food.

"If you're attacked by a polar bear, definitely do not play dead — that is a myth. Fight as long as you can," Ms McCall said.

With Canada home to about 16,000 polar bears, isolated communities living at the top of the world have put different prevention programs in place to reduce such encounters.

In one Canadian town, Arviat, a bear patrol system was previously credited with dramatically reducing the number of bears killed in defence of life or property, from about eight a year before it began in 2010 to one a year afterward.

That can mean patrolling for the animals by snowmobile or four-wheeler, shooing them away with spotlights or a revved engine, or hazing them with beanbag shotguns.

In another town in the country's north, Churchill, polar bears that cannot be scared off are kept in an air-conditioned "bear jail" until the ice freezes up.

They are then transported out to where they can find natural prey such as seals.