At first I had the title 'standoff with black rhino' but I changed it as I thought people would wonder 'who, Michael Steele?'

Javan rhino. Maybe 40 left in the world. None in captivity.

http://lygsbtd.files.wordpress.com/2...avan-rhino.jpg

This has worked for me with goat, deer, elk, and moose. Our cats don't especially like it either.

Aggressive movements and a clap will chase off large raccoons as well. I'm just glad they don't know how much damage they could do me in an all out fight. I heard an account on NPR of a woman who struggled with a rabid raccoon in the snow just out of earshot of her family in a semi-rural setting. I've seen skulls of raccoons complete with teeth. Dangerous looking teeth.

Jimmy Carter was attacked by a rabid rabbit while he was canoeing.

Never tried it with a racoon. Good to know. They are malicious and until your note, I thought utterly fearless creatures.

We have a family of about 8 that I’ve seen on the property occasionally and I’ll bet they feasted on the fallen critter.

(Must get tongue out of cheek)

I remember he got reamed by the press once they learned of it.

You mean they gave him a good paddling?

At least. Wikipedia reports that Carter said he had no prior experience with approaching aggressive creatures and he didn’t want to let it in the boat.

Wonder what the SS would about something like that now.

A paddled canoe can speed to a swimming deer but a canoe cannot elude the depredations of a high-speed kamikaze bunny.

I don’t understand the first part of your sentence as I’ve never been in a canoe or kayak, and have no idea how fast a deer can swim.

But at least Carter didn’t tip the canoe over, which would have been even more funny.

They will stand their ground up to a point. A little piece of 2x4 is a good missile for dissuasion. They have a good memory it seems and make regular rounds. Once I've used small missiles on them, subsequently they'll flee just from the SCAT! gesture and clap of hands. One was killed on the street in front of our house in Berkeley some years back and two of them hung out in the tree just above until the City sent a truck to pick up the carcass. I couldn't chase them out of the tree. I let that one go.

http://files.abovetopsecret.com/uplo...racoon_lat.jpg

Jeez, I'm getting fanboy geeky with rhinos:

Rhino chasing hippos - YouTube

Hippos too. Wild critters - the only aquatic mega fauna. I just discovered they sleep underwater, rising to breathe w/o waking (!?!).

Tippecanoe and Carter too!