Calf Kept at School Is Brutally Attacked : Animal abuse: Severely injured during an assault with an undetermined object, the animal had to be destroyed.

At least three persons broke into a pen housing animals at Costa Mesa High School in June and abused a calf so severely that it had to be destroyed, police said Monday.

Costa Mesa Police Detective Dale Birney said that a large, undetermined object was used to sexually assault the calf, which was kept on the school’s 19-acre farm for study by students enrolled in an elective agriculture program.

While police have no suspects in the assault, which occurred on or about June 20, Birney said investigators believe that several persons committed the crime.

“We think it was a group of individuals, because it would take at least two persons to hold the calf still while the others (assaulted) it,” Birney said. “There weren’t any problems with any of the other animals, other than that a few got out.” The animals that escaped were recovered.

John W. Nicoll, superintendent of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, said a district employee or teacher who acts as a caretaker usually lives on the campus farm, but no one was available to fill that post when the attack occurred. The district is seeking a new resident caretaker, he added.

Birney said the assault was likely an isolated incident committed by “some weirdos out there.” Police do not believe the incident was cult-related.

After the assault, the animal was taken to Dr. Laurie Blackburn, a local veterinarian, Birney said. Blackburn gave the calf a “very minimal” chance for survival and recommended transporting it to a butcher for slaughter. “The owner decided it was better if the calf was destroyed,” Birney said.

Blackburn and Costa Mesa High School Principal Mike Murphy were on vacation Monday and could not be reached for comment. Officials of the school’s agriculture program did not return phone calls.

Nicoll said he has authorized an increase in security at the school and asked police “to keep an eye on the place.” He added that while “five or six” incidents in which animals were cut or beaten have occurred there during the last 15 years, he couldn’t “recall one so specifically sexually oriented.”

Nicoll said that he had no explanation for the attack, other than that “there are very, very sick people out there who like to hurt animals.”