And other omnivores? After all, if any animal that could live without meat did so, there wouldn't be such a thing as an omnivore....
You said yourself that humans are different than animals. We have the capacity to make moral decisions. If all the bears jumped off a bridge, would you do so too?

I value animal life too--but humans come first.
Humans could survive quite easily on a non-animal diet - so that argument doesn't make sense.