Animals gone from Brindelton Bay?

Followed up on your lead and had similar results. Took one of my BB sims out to explore and there were cats seemingly everywhere, the greatest concentration being the house's yard and the immediate area. The further away I took my sim, the fewer cats were seen. Only dogs were two with owners. After 5:30 PM sim time no critters other than my sim, a couple of food hut vendors, and the ubiquitous seagulls. Still holding to theory of an alteration as previously mentioned, not only from the change in animals but a memory from around the pack's release. I remember there being complaints on the forums about strays being everywhere, including going into the various community venues. Am thinking that in fixing that, the devs went overboard and killed all stray generation except in BB when BB residents are the ones going around the village. Just a theory, but the evidence I've seen points that way.

Forgot to mention that it takes an enormous amount of time to get a sim to interact with an animal. Depending on the situation when the directive is given, the sim either stands or sits where they were with the command not even in the cue, but above it. They eventually start to respond, but the critter is often long gone by then, making the intended action pointless.