In my eyes, the main problem lies in addressing the statement of "Man is the peak of creation" the wrong way.
People were really hung up on this until research showed that some animals have behavioural patterns very similar to those of humans, so the logical conclusion to them was that every animal is as divine, as special and as great as they had always thought humans were. See the whole "Animals are our brothers and sisters" sentiment. The way I see it, it is far more realistic to view humanity as "just as low down" as some animals (with limitations of course) and simply come off the pedestal we had previously built for ourselves. tl;dr not "animals are just as great as humans", but "humans are just as normal as animals", so I eat what I want as long as I am not wasteful.
The "elephant graveyard" thing was also debunked if I remember correctly.
