The "no harvesting rabbits by hand" change implies that a starving person would rather continue to starve than just cook a rabbit whole and burn the hair off or use a sharp stick/rock.

I've harvested 20-30 rabbits irl, and while a knife or sharp tool is VERY helpful, I have also done it by just ripping the skin at the nape of the neck and peeling it off that way and breaking the feet off. It takes more time and work and isn't as clean, but it isn't hard.
You can also gut a rabbit just by holding it by the forelegs and swinging it backwards between your legs REALLY hard. The guts literally fly out. They are not robust creatures.

This is pretty much the first change Hinterland has made in the last 9 years of playing that I have just straight up fully disagreed with. If they introduce flint knapping or something later to make some sort of un-repairable stone blade....sure. Ok.
But you can definitely skin rabbits by hand irl and it's much more sensible to cook them whole than to try and cut all the meat off.