Why do we?

I read an interesting editorial piece by a reporter from CNN who covers the war. He asks several questions in the article but makes no judgements. The main question is, "Do people care more about animals than humans?" This statement is based on the amount of mail he receives after one of his stories runs.
He always gets lots of mail when an animal is involved. The interesting thing about this is reading the comments after the story. Most cite the innocence of the animals. They are caught up in a situation they have no control over. Humans are who have made the decisions.
People who don't love animals accuse animal lovers of not caring. I think the innocence is exactly why we do care.