When was Jimmy Carter attacked by a rabbit? “Killer rabbit attack” incident explored as former president passes away

Former US President, Jimmy Carter, has passed away. He died on December 29, 2024, at the age of 100, at his home in Plains, Georgia. People are now looking into the life and legacy of who was once a peanut farmer, particularly, the "killer rabbit attack" incident.

Back in April 1979, Jimmy Carter was on a fishing trip on a pond near his home in Plains when he spotted an animal just below the surface of the water, swimming towards him. That's all it took for the news to make headlines. Some began claiming the “banzai bunny,” as described by AP, was a symbol of Carter's ailing presidency, while others began rendering cartoon reenactments of the scene.

All we know about Jimmy Carter and the rabbit that menaced him on his quiet day out

Back in August 1979, then-White House Press Secretary, Jody Powell, spoke with the Associated Press about the time Jimmy Carter was menaced by a “berserk" looking rabbit. The “killer rabbit,” as the outlet described, was drawing closer to the president “hissing menacingly, its teeth flashing and nostrils flared.”

Instead of having the Secret Service shoot it down or hitting it directly himself, Carter shooed it away with his paddle. As reported by Slate, when Carter relayed the story to his friends back home, no one believed him because “rabbits don’t swim.” So he drew up an enlarged image of the same to prove his point.

News outlets across the nation went berserk with the tale. While AP rendered a cartoon version of the scene, depicting Carter battling a fuming, human-sized bunny, other newspapers were rendering their own caricatures with their own spins.

As reported by Slate, headlines ranged from “‘Banzai Bunny’ attacks Carter on fishing trip,” and “Carter Had to Fight Off Swimming Bunny,” to “Carter provides proof of ‘killer rabbit’ attack.” On AugustThe Washington post also printed the AP story under the headline: “Bunny Goes Bugs: Rabbit Attacks President." It was accompanied by its own cartoon version with the title "PAWS," a nod to Jaws.

In January 2010, years after the incident, The Baffler published an issue that shed light whole debacle. When asked if he would wished he got to hit the rabbit "instead of missing," as Robert, the interviewer, noted that it would "read better in the history books," Carter replied:

"Well, Bob, now, you may just be right. But the thing is, I didn’t miss. I wasn’t trying to hit that poor critter at all.”

As for how he felt about the animal later being pummeled to death by the interviewer and his friends, in which Jimmy Carter had no hand, he noted:

"You know, friend, all of Creation is under this blue dome of sky. Maybe someone tossed up that bunny’s burrow with a plow blade; maybe it had a litter a coyote got into. There are animals that go mad if you kill off their young. Heck, swamp rabbits live maybe two years, if they’re lucky. Reckon that poor fella’s bones are somewhere near that pond as we speak, covered up in good old Georgia dirt.”

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Six years after the story broke out, Powell confessed to being the one who leaked the story of the "Killer rabbit" and Jimmy Carter in his 1985 memoir.

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