On the Experience Project Web site, people chat about why they love animals more than people. One person wrote: “In my opinion, the most lowly animal is a billion times better than the best human. While humans have committed atrocious evils, animals remain pure.”

Something feels out of balance in these Web posts. Closer to home, in the real world, something’s out of balance in the animal-human equation, too.

Four young people said they felt sorry for the pit bulls being held in Spokane County’s animal shelter. So over the Memorial Day weekend, they broke in to rescue them. One of the pit bulls – named Chewie – was part of a pack of pit bulls, called the “Great Eight,” who were being held as evidence while an animal fighting case worked its way through the court system.

Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service has been trying to find an animal sanctuary for the Great Eight, but the pit bulls likely face euthanasia, though the final decision has not been made on their fate.

The bungled “prison” break for Chewie and friends highlighted once again why the welfare of humans should always trump the welfare of animals. When the reverse happens, common sense disappears. In March, protesters picketed Spokane Regional Health District over the case of Chico, an exotic monkey, who was put to sleep after biting three humans. Euthanizing Chico allowed the monkey to be tested for rabies, sparing the human victims from undergoing painful anti-rabies injections.

The human beings involved in the animal fighting legal case received due process under the law. Peter Nelson and Alfredo Renteria were given eight-month sentences for animal fighting, a Class C felony in Washington state.

The Great Eight pit bulls received a version of due process for animals. They were cared for while the legal case was resolved. Then SCRAPS rightly concluded that the dogs would be unsafe for families or might be used for underworld dog fighting again if adopted. But the pit bull “rescuers” took the concept of animal due process to the extreme. Now, the young people will need due process; they have been charged with second-degree burglary.

Animals can be easier to love, accept and care for than messy, complicated and needy human beings. But acting on that easy love almost always shortchanges humans. Queen Elizabeth, for instance, was criticized for seeming to prefer the company of her dogs to being with her subjects as they mourned Princess Diana. Eccentric wealthy people sometimes stipulate in their wills that millions of dollars be used to care for their pets, while ignoring the needs of the poor.

Animals matter, yes. But humans matter more. Balanced communities make certain their laws, and their legal sanctions, reflect this natural order of things.

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