I’ve just spent a week in bear country, and at the same time, in an elegant and comfortable house in a prosperous suburb of Vancouver.

Therein lies the challenge – managing peaceful coexistence between the original bearish inhabitants and the encroaching humans. Which humans range from people who leave edible garbage out in flimsy trash cans and have hissy fits, demanding that bears who turn up to investigate this handy food source be removed, to the neighbour who had his fence broken by a bear on its way to the adjacent river multiple times and solved the problem by repairing the fence, building a giant cat flap – hilariously labelled “bear crossing” – into it. The bear courteously uses the bear flap; the fence is still standing.

It’s a serious issue, and needs a lot of education and support to prevent bad bear/human interactions, which too often result in the bear being killed.

Hence coating the bear.

My hostess (and niece-in-law) Holly Reisner is the Executive Director of the North Shore Black Bear Society. One of the many education programs the NSBBS gives is how to use bear spray. And practising on a target is the most effective way to show people how best to use the spray.

Which brings us to the coated bear. It’s a life size black bear archery target, made of something like foam insulation sheets. Problem is, the solvent in bear spray melts the foam. So Holly and her husband (my nephew Henry) have coated it with a clear urethane.

The art of effective bear spray is straightforward – on the face, where the spray can reach the mucous membranes in the eyes, nose and mouth. Elsewhere, the bear is hairy and pretty much spray-proof. Or it might even attract the bear; they’re very smell motivated, and if it doesn’t sting, it might smell “interesting”.

Even though it seems kinda obvious, I understand the need for training – in the moment, faced by a bear, I suspect that it’s hard to keep cool, remember “mucous membranes”, and aim carefully.

Though practice is supposed to make perfect, this is one area where I’d rather not have the opportunity to refine my technique!