FWIW, there is a lot to be said about animal cruetly when it comes to them as food, and PETA's position on it. However, PETA goes way too far, and thus we see them as radicals.

It's not cruel to kill animals, it's not even cruel for them to have a less than satisfactory death. This is because they genetically are 'prepared' for it because every single wild animal will die a somewhat horrible death. The problem though is when we go way beyond that, and we torture them during their lives. We need to look at what science says about it to actually know in what way and how much they're being affected, but things like locking chickens in tiny cages for most of their lives is likely major cruelty.