The "weeks looking for number 3" part sounds apocryphal to me.
Snopes [0] has one real example and one television example of this prank. In the real example, the students were caught on camera, and there was no long search for the remaining livestock.
Thanks for actually researching this. As I remember, I read this bash.org, so I was pretty skeptical of the story just because of the source. It's one of those stories I'd like to believe was true just because I like it.
Snopes [0] has one real example and one television example of this prank. In the real example, the students were caught on camera, and there was no long search for the remaining livestock.
[0] http://www.snopes.com/college/pranks/livestock.asp