I'm not trying to rebut or refute what you say, but it's my opinion that many people's callousness and lack of sympathy for their fellow man may grow from, or be galvanized by cruelty to animals.
This is certainly an established principle for many serial killers who "graduate" from animal torture to human depravity. I would not expect a person who is perfectly comfortable kicking a non-threatening dog or throwing a cat into traffic to have a lot of sympathy for their fellow human being, so animal and human suffering may not always be as separate as you seem to think they are.
Very good post. I also immediately thought of St. Francis.
In addition, I reject the title (at top of thread) because it assumes that conservatives do not care about animal suffering. RIDICULOUS!
The same type of lie about conservatives not caring about the poor is being deliberately promulgated by the left.
It’s way past time to strongly refute this nonsense via intelligent PR campaigns! ....particularly before the election!