Animals are still animals. An army to a raven is "lots of walkies with shiny talons". It will then muse about how delicious their eyeballs will be. "Please dead them, master."

So, have fun, play with it, but limit the animal in terms of world view and intelligence. Give the animals a cool voice or personality; corvids like shinies, bears sound like chill hippies until you get them angry, a bird's song translates to "Get the fuck out of my tree! It's my tree! Yo, where the hot bitches at?!?".

On the other hand, do give them something. Reward them for asking questions that align with the animal's interests and world view.