The thing about dangerous Canadian wild animals, Jennie, is that most of them are pretty big, and you have to be blind drunk as well as stupid to miss them when they’re close enough to take exception to your presence. A moose on the highway, a bear helping himself in the veggie garden — not hard to spot. Also, the most threatening beasts avoid humans, and most Canadians are city-dwellers who have to travel a far piece to get up close and personal with one. Stay off their doorstep, and they stay off yours.

Note that raccoons, skunks and coyotes do not belong to this class of wildlife. Living as I do in delightful, suburban Stratford, less than 1,000 metres from cropland, I keep the garbage under close arrest and the garage and garden shed firmly shut to discourage those species from visiting my patch for more than a cursory look around.

Oh, and the cats stay in, not only to keep them out of the line of fire but also to prevent them from messing with the many birds that live in my hedge. Their job is clobbering any mouse that dares to venture into the house, which they handle with enthusiasm and dispatch.