I think showing pictures of cute fuzzy animals and grieving pet owners is a sure fire way of getting people's attention and hence advertising dollars, and it is pretty easy to do (not a lot of journalistic heavy lifting involved).

Also, trying to get information on human victims of a wide-spread medical event is harder to do given the confidentiality protections. You have to get a lot of forms signed to take cameras into a human hospital to interview victims. Nobody cares if a cat's "confidentiality" is compromised.

I wonder if "human misery" fatigue is a factor in this as well. We've (the planet) has had a rough couple of years with images of dead and dying humans. I know I tend to tune it out myself.