Jagex have finally confirmed that Summoning will be added into the game! Here is (in my opinion) the most important quote from the Development Diary:
"The core idea being that these summoned animals would do more than just fight for you. "We were also thinking Animal Lore would be to Hunter, what Smithing is to Mining," he continues - you'd either catch and train up animals or call them out of the wild to aid you."
So hunter won't be a completely useless skill any more!?
I'd better train it to 60 or 70 so that I am ready for Summoning.