Animal-rights activists on Tuesday gave Carousel Center mall officials a petition with 300 names asking them not to renew the lease of a fur store.

Syracuse Animal Rights Organization, a new student-based activist group, collected the names from mall employees and patrons Monday asking that Georgios Furs be removed.

The petition was presented to an employee at the information desk after management refused to meet with the activists, said Anthony Nocella, 26, a doctoral student at Syracuse University. Erin R. Fitzgerald, 19, a sophomore at SU, emphasized that the presentation of the petition was not intended as a demonstration.

The ease with which the signatures were collected indicates people agree with their cause, said Fitzgerald, who presented the petition accompanied by two other students. She said it took two students three hours to gather the 300 signatures.

"We hope that the mall understands where we are coming from," said Vicki Rubino, 20, a student at the State University College of Environmental Science and Forestry. "Children should not have to view animal skins. We do not want this to be accepted in our society. It's extremely sad."

Mall officials were unavailable for comment, and shop owner Georgio Politis declined to comment.

Politis owns another fur store on South Salina Street, which also has been the target of protesters.

The Syracuse Animal Rights Organization held a candlelight vigil Sunday night to celebrate what group members say is the closing of Georgios Furs at Carousel Center.

Group member Erin Ryan Fitzgerald, 19, said the fur store has closed, so the group peacefully demonstrated at the home of the store's owner, Georgio Politis, on Griffin Road in Onondaga. Seventeen members of the group showed up.

Politis declined to be interviewed, and mall officials couldn't be reached.