Thank you for your contribution and understanding Andi, but i think you meant fantasy instead of phantastic?
I hope i am not wrong to state that the wellfare of animals is also worth discussing, past as well as present? The soul purpose of this thread is to do acadamic research to hopefully dismiss the ideas of incendiary "bestiary", as portrait by medieval artists, and make them what they are... JUST DRAWINGS.
On a side note, most real bestiary have a satirical function. Meaning that they where meant to mock or make a fool of someone of something. The most famous one in my country is that of the Fox Reineard. A great story to read and get the feeling that animals can play a trick or two on humans as well
As Andi pointed out, even nowadays we make use of animals. Think of those dogs at the airport or indeed the trained dolphins etc.