I have been noting this more recently and it seems to be a trend, at least with people I converse with on the regular. The really religious types aren’t animal people or downright dont like them. The more chill or agnostic types seem to be more apt to love animals.
I could go on my theory of this but I’m interested to see if anyone thinks this is a trend.
I read in the old testament that when moving the ark of the covenant to a new location that, for every few steps taken, they would sacrifice another ox or some other animal as an offering to God, and it was a long journey.