It could be anything. Armadillos to Zebras (not really :), but I know that Armadillos can tear up a lawn and flowerbed. They don't want the plants, they want the bugs under the plants. Cats are also a possibility, though they are looking to use the site as a litter box. Personally, I would bet on the armadillo. To stop them, there is a spray that I use, which is basically a type of 'scare factor'. The scent is unpleasant to animals, invoking a fear response, which gets them to leave the area and look for a more welcoming garden. It will work for deer, voles, moles...just about anything. And it is humane. I've used Plantskydd for rats (I live out in the country) that were digging up my strawberries. It worked! I wish you well! I know how frustrating that can be. Here is a link that might be useful: Plantskydd

There is one other place I know of you are likely to read about composting animals. The humanure handbook website forum. It wasn't till I started humanure composting that I learned how to get a really good hot compost pile that would easily handle rotting carcass and control smell and other animals digging it up. So what have we composted. I really can't even count the bones and scraps of animals we have eaten since we always compost all food scraps that don't go to the chickens or worm bins. It is a firm rule here to avoid putting anything stinky in the trash can. So, animal bodies in our compost bin lately. 3 sick chickens we didn't want to make the rest of the flock sick. Any dead squirrels we find around the house. 12 rats we caugh And all fish parts that the chickens don't get, I've found that burying fish parts causes critters to dig up the yard or whatever plant I put over it so composting seems to be the best way for use to take care of it. I agree that this is an advanced composting thread. No one who is not confident of their ability to manage a hot compost pile should be putting dead bodies in it.

Sue it sounds like deer. In the spring they ate my leaves as they were emerging. But, last week, just the buds on one of my dl's, my strawberry plants and leaves off my cherry trees. Didn't touch my hostas right next to the DL or any of my roses. I was lucky they only ate the buds off one of my noids and the buds from one scape on the dl next to it. There were hoof prints in the mud where I had watered the night before so I'm positive it was deer. I mix 2 eggs with a gallon of water and mist my dl's once every other week. Seems to be working.... Knock on wood. Andrea

If you have an animal problem, pick the tomatoes at the first blush of pink. Place them on a plate in the house, out of the sun. They will ripen there and be delicious. Just before frost, I pick every green tomato and ripen them indoors that way.