I'm curious about the difference between Wild Empathy and the Handle Animal skill, because it seems that what Wild Empathy does (getting an animal to like you) would be covered by Handle Animal, so it makes me wonder what exactly is the difference in terms of functionality between them?
Wild Empathy is like diplomacy for animals. It allows you to improve their attitude.
Handle Animal is how you get an animal to do a specific thing.
Farmer brown can get a domestic animal to pull a cart. Farmer brown can not convince a hungry wolf not to eat him.
Ah, makes a bit more sense now. Thanks for the input.
Actually, while Handle Animal mentions domesticating wild animals, there is no requirement RAW for the animal to be domesticated or even friendly.
So in theory, farmer brown can get a shark to carry him across the ocean on its back with a measly 25 DC.
The closest ruling on this is the Diplomacy description which says "If a creature’s attitude toward you is at least indifferent, you can make requests of the creature." But then, can a domesticated horse be considered anything but unfriendly while you're actively dealing it subdual damage with a whip?
Also RAW, Wild Empathy won't stop that hungry wolf either. Wild Empathy works as Diplomacy, and is thus "ineffective in combat and against creatures that intend to harm you or your allies in the immediate future."