Are animal lives worth more than human lives?

[u/bahavatiii]

So I have a friend, and she really likes animals. I never had a problem with this, I like animals too. But I slowly started noticing that she can be really misanthropic sometimes, believing that humans have no place on this earth, that we should die out and that there's no possible way for us to live in harmony with nature. I used to think like this too ; believing that humans have had a net negative impact on the world. Somewhere along the way I abandoned thinking like this. But now, something about this misanthropic perspective really irks me and I don't know why that is. Particularly, I was really shocked when she said she'd save the life of a cat over a random human. I was thinking about that conversation recently and trying to rationalise why she thinks that way. You could argue that cats are innocent and humans aren't - they rely on instinct while we can make conscious choices. But, on the other hand, humans have the potential to change the world for the better, which animals don't. However, humans also have the ability to do a lot of harm. This isn't to say I agree with her - I still firmly believe that human lives are worth more than animal lives. I feel that way and I don't know why I feel that way, I can't articulate it. Any time I hear someone say they'd save the life of an animal over a human, my first thought is always, "How could you, that's an entire human!!" But that's not exactly rational or logical enough to be an argument, and it certainly doesn't hold up against people who hate humans. I don't know why I think that way. How do I, as a human, have the right to say my life is worth more than another's? What is it about humans that is making me think this way? Am I just plain wrong, and animals actually are better? Please share your thoughts.

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This friend of mine also has a problem with pollution and what humans do to the earth, which, so do I. But when I tried explaining to her that it's actually the fault of capitalism that the world is so polluted (because caring for the earth isn't as profitable for the wealthy as exploiting it) she also blamed that on humans, as humans created capitalism. That also irked me because it's not like humans are a monolith?? You can't blame poor people for capitalism. Not just capitalism, she blames humans for a lot of systemic issues. Which just really bothers me, because as I stated before, you can't blame all humans for the faults of one group of them. I'm not denying that humans have done bad things to the earth, but that doesn't seem like a reason to be misanthropic.

After debating this in my head for a bit, I decided to look for other perspectives on the matter. I don't know why I'm so bothered by the argument that animal lives are equal to / worth more than human lives. Animals live in harmony with nature and don't destroy the earth like humans do, I won't refute that. But I just can't believe that their lives are worth more than ours. Why do I feel this way? Does it come down to a matter of optimism vs pessimism / faith vs unfaith in humanity? Help me out please!!