You boys should buy a .22 pistol... Co2 powered 20 shot, ball bearings. Easily concealed. Sufficient to scare them away, or if really in trouble, plenty of power to kill the animal..(not that I am advocating shooting them, unless attacked)..
My brother has one of these. Baikal Makarov MP-654K
I am hunting one down in NZ... very hard to find.
The Baikal MP-654K is an air pistol which is made in the same manufacturing plant as the original Makarov pistol. There is some argument for saying that this isn’t a replica at all – it’s simply a CO2 powered version of the original firearm..
Nasty piece of kit...