I enjoy DST a lot, and my favourite features of the games are by far the animals. From Koelaphants, to Geckos, Catcoons, Beefalo, and my personal favourite Tallbirds, I adore DST's animal designs. I always make a point in every world to attempt to make a zoo or "befriend" as many animals as I can, herding and bringing them to my base.
While many of the animals have subtle dual functions, either as a food source + drops or generating poop, protection, and in some cases other harvestable resources (Beef wool), very few animals actually have any true benefit when alive that justifies keeping them around, let alone keep them alive for extended periods of time. The Beefalo may be an exception with domestication, but many people never attempt to domesticate Beefalo due to the difficulty of maintaining them. Beefs do make traveling faster and are useful in battle, but by the time someone would consider domesticating a Beefalo, most of the map would already be explored and you would have decent armour and weapons most of the time. Most people I have known who domesticate Beefalos on a semi-regular basis do so from the mere pleasure of having an earned pet they can take care of and love, not to use as meat sheilds in battle (some use it for the speed boost exclusively but very few).
I'm not sure if this is just my social group or if this is true for others, but it's extremely apparent to me and how I play that ranching or being friendly towards the beasts of the DST world is not really rewarded. You're rewarded for using or "exploiting" animals, for the lack of a better word, (taking gecko tails, shaving Beefalo in the winter, stealing penguin and Tallbirds eggs, using animals to kill enemies regardless of whether they die) but you do not get any significant reward for caring for animals, especially long term. Sure, Koelaphants give manure, but does 1-2 manure piles a day really beat out the benefits of a ton of meat and a trunk, especially when there are other, better sources of manure? Is spending meat to befriend a catcoon really worth that single bone shard it gives you as a gift?
The point is, there's two main ways to interact with animals effectively in DST: You kill them, or you leave them alone. For an animal lover like me, I think the game could benefit from a third option: ranching.
I think a new character who's main benefits revolve around animals may add additional ways to survive in DST. The main survival methods in DST currently is to kill everything in sight for meat and drops or leave everything alone and survive on berries. But what if a rancher was able to harness the natural beauty of these DST beasts? Instead of killing Koelaphants for meat and trunks immediately, a rancher is able to create the right conditions for Koelaphants to breed and create more over an extended period of time, creating more food? What if a rancher was able to milk Beefalo, giving people more reason to keep them around rather than slaughter the entire herd? What if ranchers were able to extend relationships with pigs and Catcoons they befriend without the need of food, giving some benefits to keeping them rather than simply farming them?
I'm not much of a programmer and I'm not good at balancing skills, hence why I haven't come up with a character and stats, but I think animals have a lot of potential in DST. I want more things to do with animals rather than killing them, and I think that can be achieved without breaking the game. I am aware there are mods out there to have Koelaphants breed and to milk Beefalo and things, but they are mods and I don't feel rewarded with many of their mechanics, especially the Koelaphants mod since they breed automatically and with no assistance.
To make sure I'm clear, I'm not bashing people who don't care about the animals and do want to kill them all. That is one way to play the game and it's easily the most effective way to interact with many of them. I simply want an alternative for those softies like me who want to be the animal tamer they've always wanted to be.
What do you all think?
Tl; Dr
The best way to interact with animals is by killing them, so a new character could be implemented to give an alternative way to interacting with animals: ranching. This allows animal lovers and animal harvesters alike to do what they love.