Ehlnofey aren't animals. Animals were created by Kynareth, while Ehlnofey predate Mundus.
No.
When mundus was created, mortals had no regular form yet. Depending on which description of Y'ffre you read, they shifted between mortals and plans or between man, animals and plants. Y'ffre put an end to that. Words of the Clan Mother and Faith in the Empire describe this.
I reckon this aspect of Y'ffre has been merged with Kyne to create Kynareth. You have a god of animals + plants + humans and a goddes of the sky, the rain, the wind, combining these you get a complete Goddess of nature. I think this vision of Kynareth is best presented in Knights of the Nine, though it is arguably a bit of a change on what Faith in the Empire describes but it puts everything together so I'm running with it.
Thank you, but that creates more questions for me than answers. How can one simply create (I do by no means doubt that she did it, though) animals? Unlike in real life, they aren't just animated star dust, but actual vessels for something to put into a Soul Gem.
People used to believe that people were just that. Vessels for a soul.
I don't think there is an exact answer to how people / animals / trees were created. The monomyth mentions it is only described in allegorical ways.