I completely understand what you're saying. I don't know why this is, cobra, and I've given this a lot of thought over the years.
One of my theories is that we have defenses, emotional barriers, to protect us internally from absorbing too much horror directed at people. Because we ARE people, when we read or hear of violence, torture, etc., against humans, even children, those blocks go up that prevent us from comprehending that these are humans just like us. Kind of like the volume control on some devices, where the volume can only go up so high and then it is blocked. Or on my shower there was a "governor" so that the water could not get too hot. Does this make any sense?
With animal abuse, the anecdote, photo, details, etc., sort of slip in under our defenses. It's like the arrow is shot and finds its mark before we can put up the shields. We identify with the helplessness of the animal before we can stop ourselves.
I don't have it figured out, but I have wondered about this.
