Regarding the escaping animals, aside from an amusement factor the first time this happens, what is the point of it? Is there any way to control it? Often some animals will escape again before I've even managed to capture the old ones.
You generally have to go to a lot of trouble early on to specifically catch animals, especially bears or tigers. I use them for an early cultural and happiness boost. The problem is, happiness isnt so much a bonus as a size limit on your city. Having extra happiness doesnt do anything, which means your captured animals arent using half of their effectiveness unless you're pushing that happiness limit. Now when 3-5 animals break out, if my city is large then I end up with starvation. And if it has no effect, then the animals weren't doing anything more than adding culture anyway.
My point is that the animals are effectively making my cities unstable, and requiring extra units just to keep them under control. In that particular case, I feel I will end up not bothering to use anything except bears for new settlements.
Animals already require a good bit of effort just to capture and use (research, promotions, finding them, winning, and building a carnival) that requiring additional effort to constantly recapture them is going to be more trouble than they're worth.
