Monday Night Late Lab

In last night's Geology class, we watched a video about volcanos. It was full of destruction, ruined homes, fires, floods. We witnessed people trapped in a mudslide, families running away from the ash, and photographs of scientists killed in their research. Toward the end, there was a brief shot of two cats floating down a flooded street on some wreckage. And the whole class said, "Awwww."

I'm wondering why it was the cats that hit our emotions, and not the people. It's something I don't understand.