PETA Germany has issued a statement (in German) decrying the ability to kill animals in Battlefield 3, specifying an incident where the player stabs a rat with a combat knife. They mention the (according to our translation) "brutalizing" effect this can have on the game's "young male target audience" (Battlefield 3 is rating USK 18 in Germany), and note that cruelty to animals has been shown to lead to violence toward people. It seems this ignores that the game itself is centered around violence toward other people. Thanks James via BF3Blog.