I don't think he had 50 yards to think about it. It looks to me like they are bear watching/photographing, at the town dump, which is a common, and usually not dangerous, practice in the great white north.
Usually the bears are too preoccupied with the good smells of garbage to pay much attention to the tourists. Unfortunately that leads to a false sense of security, and further leads to tourists putting themselves in harms way.
After all, a couple of great Polar Bear pictures would pay for a nifty funeral.
