How to tame/capture animals in Dwarf Fortress?

Question

As the name suggests, I want to capture an animal to either tame or eat. how do I do that?

Answer 1

Assuming you want to capture animals (groundhogs, horses, bears, dreaded Rhesus Macauqes) as opposed to vermin.

Build a cage trap where the animals roam (usually next to an outdoor food pile works well) with build, Traps, cage. You will need a mechanism and a cage. Mechanics skill is used to place the trap.

You should probably designate an animal stockpile (p, a) where the animal will be taken after it's caught.

After this, just wait for the animal to be caught.

Note: the capture live land animal option at the kennels catches vermin not animals.