If your hypothesis was correct I think we'd expect to see a coldening of e.g. hunter and prey. In reality, I think most hunters tend to disproportionately be an

If your hypothesis was correct I think we'd expect to see a coldening of e.g. hunter and prey. In reality, I think most hunters tend to disproportionately be animal and nature lovers. And as you go back in time (and in present as well) there are often rituals of respect involved in the slaughter of prey. Such things would be rather pointless if you had completely desensitized yourself to the nature of animals. But there's some nuance in here. For instance I'd completely agree that factory farming is inhumane, but I think that's in large part because those that operate such institutions have become so far detached from what it is that they do. If your business is butchering chickens, you should be at least occasionally involved in butchering chickens. There's some irony though. If there was a chicken and rice shop, as you can find all across the developing world, with chickens running about outside - the same ones ending up on your plate, people would be incensed. Similarly imagine somebody in a not entirely rural area was raising their own goats and/or chickens for slaughter. Again, there would be outrage. People inadvertently drive invisible inhumane conditions by expressing outrage at visible humane conditions that they find distasteful.