What good is befriending wild animals?

Cats and dogs (and many other wild critters) have taken over! There are many more wild animals about than in the last Story of Seasons, and I didn't really bother with them at all in that game.

But as there a lot more prevalent in this game makes me wonder, are they actually useful to befriend? How can I do so?

Solution 1:

The wild animals (once a certain friendship is achieved) (according to this informational site) will give you a "gift" that you will be able to show to villagers to boost your "friendship" with them.

The purposes for the wild animals is to receive a single gift when their friendship is high enough, show them to villagers to earn bonus friendship with the villagers, and unlock two trophies hidden within your bookshelf (although there's no reward for unlocking the trophies).

To get the gifts you must achieve

Once you have reached at least 800 FP with a wild animal family, there is a 20% chance that entering the area in which the family is located will trigger an event. The wild animals will want to thank you for being so kind to them, and as a reward they will give you a single gift. Each of the 27 families have their own reward for raising their friendship. This event will only appear ONCE per wild animal family. The items the animals give will be a herb, downy tuft, or gem; all of these items you can obtain on your own without relying on the wild animals to give them to you. One of the trophies in your farm house bookshelf will be awarded once you have received all of the 800 FP gifts from the wild animal families.

Additional information is also found in the site above.