This is a really hard and disturbing subject to thing about. Maybe I'm just pessimistic, but I don't think that people are generally "good" at all. Individually, of course, there a lot of amazing and kind people, but generally as a race we don't harbor a lot of empathy. A lot of humans just want to be bigger and more important than someone and it's usually animals who end up as victims. There still aren't any good laws that protect animals, and people in all cultures are still generally thought that animals are just here for food and amusement. I'm still often surprised how people who seemed pretty kind and normal can treat their animals. They completely block from their brains that they are living beings too, and that they feel pain, hunger, cold, loneliness... And those are just average pet owners, I'm not even talking about serious animal molesters!
The only way to seriously change this is to educate people about animals and make stronger laws. It will be the same as with children rights, women rights, racism etc.
