While the story remained the same, the victim in the report was changed to either a one-year-old child, a 30-year-old adult, a puppy or a six-year-old dog.
"Age makes a difference for empathy toward human victims, but not for dog victims," the study's notes read. "In addition, female participants were significantly more empathic toward all victims than were their male counterparts."
The results found that people were more upset about a baby, a puppy and a dog being attacked than an adult human.
But seriously, don't hurt the pups!
This article originally appeared on marie claire.