I think you made good observations. One of the issues I’ve had with the Hindu idea of “kali yuga” (and “satya yuga”) is how they try to tie it with a creator God (but fail to do so). Why would a supposedly benevolent cosmic order make it so difficult to escape lower births, especially when most animals don’t have the cognitive ability to accumulate good kamma?
Most Hindus think that they will be sent into a favorable birth (like heaven) because they followed the precepts, worships and generally lived a moral life, but others will be taken away by deity Yamraj. But if the Yugas represent moral and spiritual decay or purity, how does that apply to the countless animals that vastly outnumber humans? Like Abrahamic religions, it is ignorant of the suffering experienced by non-human species.
Furthermore, when viewed as a divine order, I also don’t understand the suffering of babies and toddlers who barely know anything about the world. If the individual doesn’t remember their past deeds, then the suffering feels arbitrary rather than meaningful. Punishment or reward only makes sense if the person experiencing it understands why it’s happening. Otherwise, it just seems like cosmic cruelty rather than justice (which very likely seems to be the case anyway).
This is another aspect that makes me think that Buddha Kassapa’s teachings were in fact distorted overtime and turned into a ritual bound religion.