Yes, you can pet the monsters in Wild Hearts - Polygon

Wild Hearts does let you pet the kemono instead of hunting them, but if you miss the prompt in the tutorial, you might become a monster yourself.

Wild Hearts guides - Polygon

Wild Hearts Small Kemono Materials guide: Where to find Pointed Scale, Crustaceous Moss, more

Wild Hearts Preview: Hands-on With EA and Koei Tecmo's Monster Hunting Game - PlayStation LifeStyle

Wild Hearts guides - Polygon

Wild Hearts: How to Catch Small Animals as Pets – GameSkinny

Wild Hearts Hands-On Preview: Gorgeous Monster Hunting with Building - IGN

Wild Hearts. Like MH, but better, in my opinion. Good so far : r/XboxSeriesX

Wild Hearts Materials Guide

Review : Wild Hearts : Heart of a Monster : Seasoned Gaming

Wild Hearts guides - Polygon

PET KEMONO SEEDS GUIDE in WILD HEARTS Wild Hearts PS5 Gameplay #WildHearts

Gamers Community

Minecraft' Is Patching the Game So Kids Won't Poison Their Pet Birds : r/Games