Decapitated Cat Found at School

IRVINE — A mutilated cat was found dead, its head and paws severed, in front of an Irvine elementary school Monday, authorities said.

Police said they found the decapitated animal and body parts strewn about the grounds of Greentree Elementary School. Police Sgt. Jeff Kermode said officers were sent to the campus after a 2:40 p.m. call from the school’s administrator.

“We were told that a decapitated cat head was placed on a sprinkler head at the school,” Kermode said.

In nearby Tustin, residents have become alarmed by at least 67 cat killings since last winter.

In Tustin, county and federal officials believe that the cats have been killed by coyotes. But members of TRAK--Tustin Residents Against Animal Killers--insist that the pets were taken deliberately by humans, possibly by Satan worshipers for ritual sacrifice.

David Eick, 22, a bus driver for a day-care center near Greentree Elementary, said the animal was discovered in the afternoon by students leaving the school.

“When I went to pick up some students in my bus, I found them all staring at the remains of the cat,” Eick said. He said one second-grader told him that he was afraid because he believed that the dead cat, which was black and white, was similar to his family’s pet cat.