The roots of adult compassion are in infancy's emotional attachment to all animals.
We nurture in young children the expression of sympathy toward animals, and, yet, we also undermine this harmony in many ambivalent ways. We differently treat animals based upon species: some are food, some friends, other tools. We cognitively seclude a big part of our intelligence, becoming partially blind: this is crucial to cope with this potential dissonance, this inconsistency in our attitudes toward animals. And the inner, loving child has to become silent.
I encourage the resurgence of that emotional child, whose original connection with all the animals made us complete.