This is the harder question. I experience it part of every day, and most emphatically at school committee meetings. And I see further danger in positing this hierarchy throughout the animal kingdom. Study of this koan also leads inevitably to the question of vegetarianism. I digress, but not really.
Hierarchical concepts are the problem.
And again, the question of Buddha-nature. So many Buddhist parables warn us to be humble. Dogs covered with sores and maggots are revealed as radiant dieties in disguise. At any time we can be entertaining angels unaware. This helps us put the koan in perspective.