Locals fight to keep polar bear hot-spot alive

We end tonight in the tiny town of Churchill, Manitoba. It's a remote community on the icy shores of Canada's Hudson Bay, known as a hotspot for seeing polar bears. Well, in tonight's weekend journal, Aaron Hazanzadeh shows us how local residents there are struggling to keep it that way. For as long as he can remember. Front left is Momo, front right is Clegane. I've always been the kid with dogs. Life for Wyatt Daly has been gearing up and getting out. How's it going? I've always known how to run dogs. Come on big boy. It's something that I've just done forever. It's just very healing. A lifestyle learned from his dad, Dave, known in Churchill as the big dog. I grew up in Churchill in the 60s and the 70s and the town was surrounded by dog teams. I don't feel a connection to the land like I do when I'm with my sled dogs out on the land. And those journeys out on the edge of the Arctic expose what's becoming clear. Winter isn't what it used to be. The whole north is changing. That's the biggest thing. Like you can't count on anything anymore. And that's a problem for the town's famous polar bears. The chance to get this close draws thousands of visitors from around the world to this tiny town of fewer than 900. Tourists spent more than $85 million in the province in 2023, creating 1,400 jobs. We have a mom with a two-year-old. But these local treasures are in trouble. Churchill's bear population has been cut in half in 40 years. Scientists say climate change is melting their homes on the ice. And there's no sign we're cutting enough planet warming emissions to stop it. It is a scary thought to think that the polar bears may not be here one day. Let's walk this way. Come. If that happens, it would be a hit to the economy, yes, but also a fracture in the identity of life in the north. Life the Dalys are fighting to protect for the next generation. To do what we do together, it's really, really special. The planet Earth is a living being, and we're the ones that are treading on it, and we're the ones that are changing everything. Come on, Noah. Let's go, buddy. As gatekeepers in the north, we need to really keep an eye out. Erin Hassanzadeh, CBS News, Churchill, Manitoba.