So let me preface that I am playing the (or close to the) latest version of DF under the stricture that my dwarves are pacifists. No killing, no violence except personal self defense. No militia. Cage traps are the only traps allowed.
A minotaur has shown up, killed a Yak and Bunny and knocked one of my dwarves unconscious. Now it's beating him in the head with a cave spider silk sock, which isn't doing much. My dwarves keep running up to feed or recover the wounded dwarf. This is putting a severe hindrance on productivity in the fortress.
What can I do? The only I have is to build a wall around the area. Is there a way I can make the minotaur my friend? Something else I can do without actually killing it?
Best Answer
Open the burrows menu and create a new burrow which covers the entire map (don't forget to include all z-levels). Switch to remove mode, and remove an area around the minotaur and wounded dwarf. To confine your dwarves to that burrow, open the military menu and go to the alerts tab.
The current civilian alert level should be
Inactive. With that alert level selected go to the far right burrows column, select the burrow you just made, and press enter. This will prevent your dwarves from leaving that burrow, and since you removed the area of the burrow around the minotaur, the dwarves will no long enter that area.