Ahhh, diversity is a wonderful thing! I LIKED dragging the animals back home! Also on a gigantic map. I found it challenging to craft a safe route home from distant lands carrying exotic animals. Especially before Tribalism, when there was not a lot of action going on in the empire.
Admittedly it was boring for the local pests, but I used slower spearmen at my empire's borders to collect anything valuable from the Hunters. For junk animals to be butchered, I did it in the field, to avoid the

cost of bringing them back to my city.
More on the topic in my other post:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=11369643&postcount=31
I haven't looked at your other post yet, sorry, I'll have a look in a minute.
I did it a similar way, using "escort units" near a city to head out and help bring animals back home, but I am a chronic restarter and although I have always found subduing the animals great fun, having played through the prehistoric in far more games than I ever finish, I had lost interest in getting them home - once the 'tales of...' seacreatures equivalent were introduced I have wished for the same thing for land animals (and have used the 'butcher' button more often than not!), because it just gets boring after a while escorting them back, even though hunting and subduing animals is still one of the best parts of the mod!
I am fully in favour of this change, if a lot of people don't like it please make it an option rather than removing it completely, because for me it is brilliant and I don't want to lose this from the game, for me it makes all the difference, hunting was starting to feel a bit bogged down and more of a logistical nightmare than fun gameplay. I like this development very much. Keep it fun.
Edit to add: WimpyTheWarrior, I have just read the post you linked to and I do like to micromanage myself, but more in terms of city buildings and specialists, and I always retain control over my worker units! It just goes to show what different people get out of the game, I'd be gutted if I could no longer control worker movements, so I understand completely if you are unhappy with this change and would like the option to escort animals home yourself, however much it pains me to say it!
I do really appreciate this new development myself - however, is there any chance it could be made optional rather than automatic? Button on the active animal's bar to send it home on its first active turn after being subdued, so that players have the choice? Keep more people happy that way perhaps, because it would be optional. I love it, but if others are unhappy I'd hate to see it excluded completely (or them left unhappy!)