i wonder how much of the Empathy for Cute Animals but Not Humans effect is due to not many people having bad experiences with cute animals but plenty of bad experiences with humans

I, however, have the unique privilege of having had a sister who owned a deranged rabbit that she let roam the house. I once woke up from a nap to it biting me hard enough to draw blood. That thing was a furry asshole.

What little unrepressed memories of Watership Down I have seem to corroborate that rabbits are surprisingly violent…