Which animal attacked U.S. President Jimmy Carter whilst fishing on a boat in 1979?

The Jimmy Carter rabbit incident, sensationalized as a "killer rabbit attack" by the press, involved a swamp rabbit that swam toward the U.S. President Jimmy Carter's fishing boat on April 20, 1979. The incident caught the imagination of the media after Carter's press secretary mentioned the event to a correspondent months later.

President Carter was fishing in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, on April 20, 1979, alone in a flat-bottomed boat while staff were on land nearby. Carter said a rabbit being chased by hounds "jumped in the water and swam toward my boat. When he got almost there, I splashed some water with a paddle."

When Carter returned to his office, his staff did not believe his story, saying rabbits could not swim, or that one would never approach a person threateningly. The incident was filmed by a White House photographer, and a still photo was eventually released.