I came into this post because I have some sort of animal digging into my potted daylilies and thought someone else might be having the same problem, but this is so much worse!
I have to admit, a local bank has hundreds of beautiful irises, and I've joked about stealing some but I don't seriously think I could ever really do it. It takes someone with a very black heart to steal from children.
I like to think there's a possibility that someone mistakenly thought that, with the new construction, they were going to be given away or destroyed. I choose to keep just a little bit of my faith in humanity.