I think it'd be really beneficial to have animal empathy be a check of some kind on surrounding animals, that determines whether or not they're hostile with the PC. If the check is passed, they remain non-hostile. If they're already hostile, they become non-hostile?
It's very difficult to be a character that avoids killing animals. They come in large numbers, distract from otherwise normal travels, there's a cooldown on animal empathy, and anything tamed is immediately attacked or attacks back. Allies/Summons/Animal Companions will sometimes kill them before you get a chance to tame them. It'd just be a lot easier, if the animals remained non-hostile from the get go, which I think should happen with someone with high enough animal empathy. Something that would also apply to everyone in the party, like a search/appraisal check.