An increase in the number of polar bears coming into human settlements in the far north could be interpreted in various ways, John, including:
1.) a polar bear population so robustly healthy that it's expanding farther south than it used to, thus impacting human communities more than formerly.
2.) a big decrease in the availability of polar bears' usual northern food sources (e.g., ice floes from which the bears can hunt seals and walruses), thus forcing them to seek alternative food sources in human settlements.
Since sales of polar bear pelts and parts can have a significant positive impact on household incomes in the far north, it is unsurprising that interpretation #1 seems to be more popular among residents of the far north than interpretation #2.
The Inuit are as human as you and I, and therefore are probably as eager to interpret evidence in a way that supports what they want to believe as you and I.
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