Tried this on aurochs, boars and deers.
I aggro an animal. It runs to me. When it's next to me and we fight I move one pixel away from the animal. Apparently now I'm too far away for the animal to execute attacks, but still too close to run up to me. As a result animal stands and does nothing. In the meantime I can wait for my cooldowns, raise defenses, gather IP etc.
When I move a little further it starts to follow me and can normally fight.