We have several tomato plants, differing varieties, planted in our square foot garden. Most of the plants had tomatoes on the vine, several almost ripe and a lot still green when my husband checked on them two days ago.

Yesterday when we checked the garden, almost all of the tomatoes (nearly ripe and green) had been pulled cleanly from the vines. There were no traces of the fruit, trampling of plants, or disturbance of the area around the plants. It was just as if someone picked each one off.

We are suspecting someone stole them off, which is odd because our house is situated off the road in a private area. Also, my husband was home the majority of the day, and I don't think someone would be able to find all of the fruit in the branches if they were rooting around in the middle of the night.

Is there an animal that would steal tomatoes without a trace? Otherwise, our inclination is to get a camera and watch, but we don't want to go to this expense if there is a more logical explanation.