>If someone told me they don't love their child but consider it cute I'd also wonder if they should remain the child's guardian.

This is the problem. Children are not pets, and pets are not children. Children are humans, and human lives are infinitely more valuable than the lives of animals. Children have personalities, consciousness, and intelligence. They have the capacity to give and receive actual love. They are fundamentally different things. I would never, ever feel that way about a child.

Many animals have personalities, consciousness, and intelligence. Dog, cats, pigs and cows included. Who is saying they don't?

Maybe only humans experience human love. But animals have emotions that seem similar.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotion_in_animals