AMHERST — A reward of up to $5,000 is being offered by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals for information that will lead to the arrest and conviction of a person who allegedly damaged an animal rights display on the University of Massachusetts campus.

PETA said that someone used a razor blade to slash some of the panels that make up “Without Consent,” a traveling exhibition, patterned after the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C., that examines the history of experiments on animals from the 1920s, including ongoing menopause experiments on marmosets at UMass. The damage occurred Friday at around 3:30 p.m., according to Tasgola Bruner, media manager for Laboratory Investigations & Regulatory Testing at PETA.

UMass Police is investigating the incident, said UMass spokesman Edward Blaguszewski.

“A violent man may have vandalized PETA’s display, but we’ll still be at UMass ... to speak up on behalf of the tiny marmosets who are mutilated and killed,” PETA Vice President Dr. Alka Chandna said in a statement. “PETA urges everyone to be on the alert for a young man on campus with a sharp object, as other students may be at risk.”

“Without Consent” features 28 panels with descriptions and photographs of nearly 200 animal experiments, and remains on display through this week from noon to 4 p.m. daily It is set up on the lawn and sidewalk between the Student Union and the W.E.B. DuBois Library, where several people spoke about their own experience with menopause during its debut last week.

“PETA is calling on UMass and all other institutions to embrace modern, animal-free research because having the power to exploit other species does not give us the right to do so,” Chandna said.

Blaguszewski issued a statement that the university’s medical research is important.

“Medical research has saved and improved the lives of millions of people and animals,” Blaguszewski said. “Today’s medicines and surgical techniques would not have been discovered without a more comprehensive understanding of disease and the way the body works. That is the result of research programs at universities, hospitals and research facilities around the world, including UMass Amherst.”

The university points to medical advances, such as vaccines, antibiotics, anesthesia and medicines used to treat serious conditions, as being the result of experiments, and that some of the most complex medical problems, like heart disease, depression, HIV and cancer, may be only be addressed by studies on animals.

Animals are used in research at UMass when no better options exist, including in a various medical fields, as well as veterinary science and agricultural science. The university also says it has a commitment to care for laboratory animals that involves the highest ethical standards and rigorous attention and adherence to all applicable federal and state laws and guidelines.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.