The state of animal population is horrible.
Kills my computer... er... did.
I don't recommend trying to butcher them.
We don't have a work force capable of butchering them faster than they breed while dealing with all the items that are produced.
And caging them is super slow.
I recommend killing them all at once with water or lava.
Don't leave any living.
We don't have use for most of their species.
They need to all die.
Kill.
Them.
All.
PS: My apologies for disappearing. It's clear to me now that this is not a save I'm capable of conquering more than an in game month of.
Actually, I saw your advice to pasture them all, and I did.
They are now stabalizing their own population. 95% of the animals are now in a 5x5 section. And the dwarves are walking outside to pick up seeds....i kinda unforbid seeds via the stocks menu. Oh, and I pastured 2 cougars and some dogs and a rhino at the entrance. should kill any kobolds that think "Oh, with all the treasure out here, there must be even GREATER treasure WITHIN!". And maybe slow any titans down enough that whoever plays it can build walls while the anim
I also destroyed nearly every stockpile to free up dwarves for animal hauling. I destroyed both preexisting garbage dumps, becuase they were in...pretty much the worst possible locations.
Focusing on food production; lavish meals consume 4 item stacks to produce one.
New quantum stockpile is near the entrance-it's that miasma producing square just south of the hospital.
Erica is a lot happier, now that I've designated a dining room for her, and designated a table as a dining room to bring cousac's tomb down to a double-shared...she's still complaining about it's "pretentiousness", but i don't think she's complaining as often or as loudly.
I Will post save ONLY if aksed to. Otherwise, "it never happened"-to prevent the many-timelines effect.
edit:
So. Um. when I resume, I plan to kill the seed stockpile. I also halted all farm plots, though i may tell one of the plots to request fertilizer...it might reduce the item count a bit.
my advice to whoever follows after me:
1. don't bring items to stockpiles near workshops. build new workshops to the items, and use manager to locate workshops that need to be turned off.
2. don't drag items long distances to the traders. bring the traders to the items.
3. don't do things that create more items, with the possible exception of tasks that must be done to make traders accept a good. eg, lavish meals: good. farming: bad. brewing: bad. rock crafts: not just yet. bone bolts: not just yet. melting: sometimes.
4. Don't drag items long distances to a garbage dump; halt all dump tasks, and make a new quantum stockpile near the items. kill, or at least deactivate, the old one.
5. Have Erica start making some doors once she's feeling a little bit better. An available dining hall has already helped her mood, though.
6. When you take on the quarry level...well, see rule 1...but import beds, food, and brew-every pot i've looked at down there is empty.