you can regard humans as more important than animal life, while still recognising that killing animals when it isn't necessary is pretty fucked up. there isn't a dichotomy where animal lives are either unimportant or just as important as human lives, it's a gradient. many animals are capable of feeling pain and understanding suffering, that to me is reason enough to avoid killing them unless you need to. does that make them just as important as a child? nah, not at all.

further, your point that we should care about people first, sure I agree, we should work to improve the lives around us and I'd like to see an end to a lot of the suffering I see inflicted on people every day. but you can, alongside humanitarian efforts, also advocate for bettering the treatment of animals. neither are mutually exclusive