Voles. Nasty creatures, and yes, I have seen their damage in a friend's yard. She can try to pot up the plant, planting it deeply to see if it grows new roots. Cut the canes back. My friend wasn't able to save her plants. She used all types of deterrents. A member of our rose society said that he found the vole runs (they make tunnels) and flooded them out. My friend started planting her roses in holes lined with hardware fabric (closely woven metal This is not good news.

Voles, you can see the rose bush one day and the next it will be a goner with no roots. They ate my first Pat Austin and Kronprincessin Viktoria. HATE THEM. I use something called, well I don't remember what it's called but it is tiny rocks that you put down when planting.
PERMA TILL, that's what it is.

Carla

The damage you cite is more likely Gophers than Voles, but both animals can do that, yes. Its unlikely that you can save this plant, but you can try. I would cut all canes down to 6 inches and bury the whole thing with only 1" of cane poking out. (In a pot is best, if possible) Place it in a shady location and hope something happens.

And use something like dip'n'grow or other rooting stimulant on all chomped surfaces.
I've saved two that had a bit of root left and lost at least twelve to voles.

In my case it was gophers. I wondered why Duchesse de Brabant was suddenly listing at a strange angle and was dumbfounded to find I could pick up the whole bush. Not a nice experience!

Ingrid

Wow, that is horrible.
I guess one of the advantages of living where I do is that no self-respecting gopher or vole would live here.
Armadillos seem to like it though :-)

Randy

OUCH! ... that's like having to live with the constant threat of underground chain saws! I just moved to this area and I notice there's lots of moles or voles or whatever, so I'll have to be on watch for the creatures, fortunately my dog loves hunting such things!

Terry

Moles eat meat so it wasn't them. That's the reason poison peanuts and other vegetable/grain based products don't work on them. You're right in that it's voles or gophers. Ann and trospero's suggestions are your best chance to recover the bush.

I had voles one year, thankfully before I was growing many roses. We had a lot of snow that winter, and when it thawed I could see the remnants of tunnels they made close to the ground through the snow. I had a clematis sheered off at the base just like you describe. All the top an inch or two above ground was disattached. It did regrow but that was clematis. Haven't had it happen to my roses yet.

Are the roots still in the ground? Maybe it will grow back from there, although it could be a year or two before it grows enough to bloom.

I'm getting a little scared as I have been seeing those tunnels again after the snow melted, this time near a group of DA roses. For the past few years I haven't had to worry about mice, voles, or anything smaller than a large woodchuck as our neighbor's cat hunted and killed everything around here. But the neighbor moved away last year (along with the cat) so I may have a problem again.

I'm thinking that it's voles around my area. I understand
your distress and even your SPEECHLESSNESS!!!! I hate those things...which ever they are. I found two in the same day...uprooted and lying in a totally different
area of the yard. My heart dropped but I didn't have
time to panic. I quickly diluted some of my castor
oil solution from a bottle that I purchased to do large
areas and pored it around my roses. I haven't gotten to
do them all...but...I'm certain that it helps. I trimmed
those roses back and feed them with Peters. starting to see
some new growth.
Good luck!

Margaret

I feel your pain. I lost a vigorous mango tree to these critters a year ago. The beautiful healthy foliage was lying on top of the ground and to date the roots have not be found.I had nursed that plant from infancy (I.m in zone 9, florida) Poison peanuts from Home Depot got rid of them, I think, before they got to my roses

They took down a 15-foot apple tree in my yard a number of years ago. I was looking out my kitchen window one day and notice it was leaning at about a 45 degree angle. I went out and just lifted it right out of the ground. Took the bottom portion of the stump to the extension service and they said it was voles. YIKES! Didn't know that such little creatures could do such damage. I haven't had much problem since that year (knock on wood!).

Also chipmunks. Solution: cats!!! My first year in my house I nearly lost several roses to voles and chipmunks, but noticed them in time, stuffed the plants back in and packed the dirt hard around them. But by the following year, the cats had taken control and I've had no further problems.

I would bet on voles. I first learned about them when I was out mowing in my yard one day, brushed up against a sapling I had planted, and it fell over. It looked like a stick you had stuck in the ground. Hardware cloth can help when used as a basket around the roots. You can try trapping in the tunnels. High maintenance, but works well. VA Tech had this technique a few years ago, but I can't seem to locate it. You basically dig a right angle tunnel off an active one, and put a mouse trap baited with grapes or apple. It can locally reduce the population, but is obviously not a permanent solution unless done frequently. Don't mulch right up to the stem either. I found probably the best way was constant vigilance, and doing things like using a water stream to probe and flood tunnels around the bushes. I hate meeces to pieces! (what cartoon character was that???- Jinx?)

Niecey, that's terrible. I'm glad to hear Handel is such a good bloomer though.

I saw what was probably a vole last year. It looked kind of hamster colored I think, though he dissappeared into his hole before I could get a good look. I left him alone, because I didn't want to kill him. Now I'm rethinking that. I do have a cat so maybe he got him. I couldn't put poison peanuts out because my dog loves peanuts and sometimes gets out. Maybe there's a way to trap them and let them loose in the woods?
Linda

I want to thank each and everyone of you for the kind responses and infos.
I knew I could count on you all.

Spoke to my cousin this morning, she is so very angry and discouraged that the way she was talking almost seems like she just wants to chuck the plant in the garbage.(Well she just started rose growing not too long ago, so she does not have that obession as we all do here)
But anyway I am leaving home in a few minutes
to try and see if I can nurse this giant of a plant back to health.

Again,
Thanks a million
Much Appreciated
Niecey