Just tried in 14w31a. Animals are now visible at height limit. This bug appears to be squashed.
Also noticed this while checking out the new endermite model. Tested in Creative and Spectator modes, in the overworld and in the End. Endermen, both from spawn eggs and natural spawn, ignored spawn egg endermites. Unsure about naturally spawned ones.
Yes, it didn't even occur to me that it was on. I mix and match bits and pieces of different packs, with most textures kept vanilla. I doubt that effects the maps, but I could be wrong.