Ravenous polar bears have invaded a village looking for food after the sea has not frozen due to mild winter weather .
Remarkable images and footage show the remote outpost of Ryrkaypiy in Russia now in virtual lockdown over the worrying predator invasion.
All public events are cancelled and children are given extra protection as they go to and from kindergarten and school.
Special bear patrols are seeking to prevent the “hungry” bears entering residential areas believed to tally around 56.
It is the second year the village has faced dozens of polar bears on its doorstep.
But locals say this year there are more bears than ever.
“Nearly all the polar bears are skinny,” said Tatiana Minenko, head of the WWF Polar Bear Patrol in Ryrkaipiy.
“There are adult bears, adolescents and mother bears with cubs of different ages.”
The village is close to a bear migration route.
Minenko and her colleague Maksim Deminov are working “around the clock” to prevent clashes between bears and people.
Rangers are using snow mobiles and vehicles to discourage the animals to come closer to houses.
It is illegal in Russia to shoot polar bears but they are ready to use rubber bullets.
Locals say that abnormally mild winter weather has led to the polar bear trespass due to the sea not freezing over despite subzero temperatures.
Instead of hunting for fish, the bears are eating seal carcasses left from autumn.
Last year army servicemen cleared the village’s shore of bodies of dead seals on which the bears are feeding.
A former governor of remote Chukotka region was Roman Abramovich, the tycoon owner of Chelsea FC.
