The words "Puppy Killers" and a picture of the bloody vivisection of a small beagle caught many people's attention as they walked by Palmer Square on Saturday.
At 12:30 p.m., about 10 college and graduate students from New Jersey and Pennsylvania stood in Palmer Square quietly, holding the posters and handing out flyers with an even more graphic picture of a monkey with its innards on display.
In the middle of the crowd, three people held up a banner that read, "HLS: No Friends, No Funds, No Future."
The animal rights activists were protesting against Huntingdon Life Sciences, which occasionally refers to itself as the Princeton Research Center, though it is about 40 minutes northeast of Princeton in East Millstone.
The animal rights activists held their rally in Princeton to let residents know about the use of their town's name.
"Huntingdon is using your town to justify animal cruelty," said Kelly Johnson, a graduate from The College of New Jersey.
There was no specific organizer for this rally, and most protesters found out about it through local animal rights organizations. Signs were taped to lampposts around campus.
Though small, the group seemed to make an impression on the Princeton community. Many passersby stopped to ask questions, one woman took pictures of the protesters and some people were inspired to join future protests.
"I thought Huntingdon was shut down!" Princeton resident Chris O'Hare said when he saw the posters. After talking for a few minutes with protesters, O'Hare and his wife Kelly decided to join a protest the next day.
This rally is one of many animal rights protests taking place throughout the state as a prequel to a national demonstration planned for Dec. 1, which is Huntingdon's 50th anniversary.
Some protesters were part of the organization Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, which is dedicated to shutting down the research center.
SHAC began in England in 1999 and moved to the United States when Huntingdon moved to New Jersey. The organization is active in 15 different countries.
Five separate undercover investigations have exposed experiments performed by employees under the influence of drugs and alcohol, according to the flyers.
"Not only is HLS a fundamentally corrupt organization to begin with," said David Lambon, a sophomore from the Montgomery County Community College in Pennsylvania. "[But] they also do exceptionally cruel things to animals."
Protester Lauren James said she hopes the rally will inform the Princeton community of the things done with Princeton's name and give Princeton "an additional reason to be a strong participant in the campaign."
After almost an hour of standing in the sun, the protesters raised their posters, as if in one final effort to stress their point, and then they left as quietly as they had come.
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