So after spending a good fifteen minutes Benny-Hilling it with my fists after a cow at Berezinho, it dawned on me that these things should bleed, dammit! If I can punch a hole in someone's skin with my fists, why not a cow?
If they've got as much blood as a standard player it would still take a considerable amount of time to kill them with your fists, but would be a bit more realistic than them taking multiple slashes/stabs/axewounds without any hint of blood loss/bleeding.
I also think that animals should start to bleed. At least if one smacks them with a hatchet? But maybe you should change the category to "feature request" as its no bug.
Thanks Germaniac - I had a look for something like that but must have missed it. Updated category now.
I think the bleed rate should be the same as players, just start them with full blood every time. If you manage to make a player bleed with your hands, it's going to take them a long time to bleed out from full blood. If you hit them with an axe they bleed much faster (correct me if I'm wrong - this is all anecdotal).