This seems like it's probably a weird exaggeration or strawman? I can't remember PETA ever making that claim, so I checked:
They compare the treatment of Pokemon, in the game, to circus animals in real life. And made a game where Pokemon fight their trainers for freedom. I don't see PETA saying that Pokemon leads directly to real life animal abuse.
Although the geek.com makes that exact claim in their headline, but it seems entirely made up? It's just them blatantly misstating the actual claim to make it sound dumber.
So, is it ok for media sources to lie, or at least mislead, when it's about a group we don't like? Or should we be equally upset about this kind of pointless sensationalism regardless of our personal opinion?