Stolen Sunflower?

When we came home last night, we had 3 5'-6' sunflowers in our front yard outside our window. This morning, we had 2 sunflowers and a hole, with a mess of dirt trailing across our sidewalk. Did anyone else have random plant theft recently?? Who would DO that? Why would you take the whole plant?? Needless to say, I'm confused, and hopefully our daughter won't be too upset.

Really?

 

Did the trail of dirt stop at the sidewalk? Could the thief be an animal, maybe?

 

The dirt didn't just stop at the sidewalk. There were 1 or 2 clumps of dirt in the grass on the other side of the sidewalk, but no spot that looked like something stopped to eat it. Again, the sunflower was almost 6 feet tall. What type of animal would pull the whole thing out and not eat it right there? If they did, they would have had to have eaten the roots and dirt along with the rest of it. Any ideas?

 

If I had to guess, I'd say the culprit is probably a raccoon. Nursing moms and babies are plentiful this time of year. Who could resist a large flower full of tasty seeds?!