Well, human life comes first. No problem with that. None at all.
However that does not mean she has the carte blanche right to go subject the poor creatures to such atrocious conditions. No matter how valuable human life is does not mean someone can just go subjecting animals to such horrid conditions. Hey, if you want to hunt hunt. Don't shoot the deer in the leg and walk away because it is just an animal. If you want to eat beef go grab yourself a cow. However don't go cut out its tongue and walk away because it is 'only' an animal.
This is really not a human life vs animal life issue, it is about some lady who for whatever reasons were spinning in her head was subjecting the animals to hell on earth. This is not some Lefto-whacko enviro-terrorist do-away-with-technology issue. It is simply about some callous person and tortured animals. Personally i think she needs to go for a mental checkup more than she needs a fine ....anyone living with over 200 dogs, some living in her walls, a flock of birds flitting around, and layers of fecal matter in her domain is evidently in need of psychiatric care. Due to her age i think they should probably ensure her last years on eart are spent in a good environment (again her home conditions show she is not all fine in the ol'skull compartment).