So I have a Twitter which is my personal one, where I have my location & friends/family. I felt limited so I created a second account where I posted stuff about zoo. There are lots of antis on there and I accidentally let slip one too many IRL details, like my dog's breed & more. Anyway, they found out it was me and they messaged my breeder. I only found out bc one of my zoo friends gave me a heads up. I went & deleted that account. But I was shaking & absolutely terrified. I thought my life would be ruined and I wouldn't get my dog anymore. (They also said to contact all local shelters..) that was 2 months ago and my breeder who I have on FB has still not contacted me. So I assume I'm in the clear??? During the ordeal I told my best friend, who's been knowing that I was zoo for 6 years now. But after I told her all that, she told me to just not practice zoo, then related it to pedophilia... So I went on a rant about her logic, and thankfully she quickly dropped it.
First, there is not really any equivalence between an adult animal and a human child. It is a false equivalence. Any licensed pediatrician could, assuming you did not bring zoo into the discussion and the reason why you were asking were politically neutral, explain to you in detail how a human child's brain is a lot different from that of an adult animal, regardless of the superficial and deeply flawed measurement of IQ that is not really an apples-to-apples comparison of neural plasticity or the degree of sensitivity of their respective stages of development.
It is not even about whether or not they are juvenile, either. Humans, due to their relationship with rodents, are born premature, compared with other animals. Rats, squirrels, and other animals are in this boat. Chimpanzees and other apes are actually premature to, ironically, a lesser extent than humans. The fact that fact that humans are born basically as a naked fetus is due to an evolutionary throwback. A part of the consequence is that we are born with very very soft heads that can expand a lot more rapidly than the relatively hard skulls of either a dog or a horse, although theirs also are not static. We don't like to talk about it, actually, but the size of an adult human's brain is really due to a severe partial evolutionary throwback that would have resulted in our rapid extinction if the resulting adaptation had not been enough to pick up the slack. If our ancestors had not been able to engineer and plan their way out of trouble, then they would not have stood a chance. They would have been gobbled up by the first hungry lion that came along, and that would have been the end. As it was, our ancestors had the presence of mind to figure out that they should avoid any place that had lion shit in it, and they had this idea of throwing sharpened sticks weighted with rocks at the lions when they could not be avoided. By the skin of our teeth, we thereby escaped dying out as a genetically defective and sickly evolutionary throwback. We came very close a very uncomfortable number of times, and the genetic bottlenecks where we almost did die out can be traced through our DNA.
Neurologically, we are in a very delicate state until we have reached the adolescent stage of our development, which on average takes about 12 years, but humans have other complications in their lives! Unfortunately, external factors can accelerate the onset of our adolescence, which is NOT REALLY A GOOD THING AT ALL. Extreme stress, abuse, and neglect can do this. Being sexualized too early in life can do this. While those children that this happens to can behave, superficially, like "little adults," this is superficial. They actually end up having impaired emotional health, in some cases a propensity for panic disorder, eating disorders, chronic trouble with the law, or becoming a magnet for abusive romantic partners. The onset of adolescence causes certain key aspects of their juvenile development to come to a screeching halt. They halt aspects of their development that are supposed to happen at the juvenile stage of life, and they start their adolescence.
This is not just because of us being juveniles of ANY species, either. Humans are just really evolutionarily fucked-up animals, and while we do end up with a gigantic mutant neocortex, we pay a heavy price for it. We have a very special adaptation, but that adaptation comes with handicaps and limitations that we have to take unique precautions in order to adjust for. We require more extensive protection and care. It is the price we pay for being one of the most unique animals on the planet.
Those people that are marching around claiming that an adult animal is like a human toddler therefore are swindling the public with self-serving bullshit. It is a false equivalence. It is a lie. That false equivalence is useful to them because it gives them a pretext for pushing away something they are uncomfortable talking about, but they know that they are not being straightforward with you. They are lying to you, and they need to be sharply reprimanded for it. It is not just poor reasoning, but it constitutes hostile and offensive casuistry. These people do not really think that an adult animal equates to a human toddler. It is a lie.