Am I less empathetic for not prioritizing animal rights?

I was having a discussion with my friend (girl, early 20s) about a recent scandal in Norway - cameras were snuck on to fur farms and showed animals with open wounds, animals attacking each other, etc. This has resulted in videos and pictures of the farms being sent around and people showing their outrage. I found the whole thing hypocritical from people who otherwise never seem to give two shits about anything to suddenly feel outraged, and about animals no less. She felt that not everyone can deal with things like genocide and world hunger and cancer awareness (I'll save the pink ribbon/Facebook-status rant for another time), and that I was less empathetic for not caring about the animals, and for criticizing those who do care about this situation while ignoring human issues.

So what do you think, redditors? Am I really less empathetic? I've been called this before a few years ago by a 17-year old girl when we got into a discussion about whether the koalas were worth saving (after she had given a substantial donation to their foundation), which I felt was entirely motivated by her "Aww, they're so cute" sentiment.