TRENTON — A group of animal rights activists gathered at a Trenton slaughterhouse today to mourn a cow that escaped the facility on Friday and died hours later after roaming I-295.

Passersby glanced and cars slowed along Roebling Avenue at the site of the Trenton Halal Packing Co. where nearly 10 activists gathered to remember the cow they dubbed "Bareea," which is Arabic for "innocent girl."

Rachel Ogden, of Westville, said the vigil was designed to raise awareness about animal cruelty.

"We're activists, we fight for animal liberation, and we just decided that we needed to speak out for her," Ogden said of Bareea. "We needed to fight the good fight for animal liberation."

The chase, which led officials through Trenton and Hamilton, ended on I-295 when the cow died shortly after it was roped on the onramp around 9 a.m., police said.

Prior to entering the highway, Trenton animal control officers started pursuing the animal in Trenton before ultimately shooting it with tranquilizer darts in a Hamilton elementary school playground, police said.

"Animals are not here for humans to use. So anytime we can use our voices to speak up against injustice we do just that," said Ogden.

The group came together, partly through social media, to organize the vigil, complete with signs, memorial cards and a bullhorn playing funeral music.

"Most of the time we see animals, in this society, as things," Ogden said. "So we are here to remember her as the someone that she was. The gentle being that she was. She was an individual who mattered. Her life mattered as much as our lives matter."

The cow made its way onto I-295 after it escaped Friday as it was being unloaded from a vehicle at the slaughterhouse. An employee was injured, but refused medical attention.

The cow then fled south through Chambersburg and into the area of Lalor Street along the Trenton/Hamilton border, according to officials.

Another man was injured in Trenton after he tripped and fell while trying to avoid the charging cow, which also struck a vehicle in the area.

A cow was similarly tranquilized after escaping the Roebling Avenue slaughterhouse in January 2010.

In 2006, M. Suleman Malik, the owner of Halal, appeared before Trenton's City Council and defended the conditions at his business after a police officer investigating a call in the area found alleged animal cruelty at Halal.

The slaughterhouse, which has been in operation since 1934, does not comply with city zoning ordinances, but has "grandfather" exception because it was operating legally on the site before zoning rules were changed.

James McEvoy may be reached at jmcevoy@njtimes.com. Follow him on Twitter @byJamesMcEvoy. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.