For photos of the problem please refer to Alt.binaries.pictures.gardens under the same subject line.
As you'll note in the photos, the plant was chopped in half on one plant. And the other plant the leaves were pulled off and left on the ground. There were 5 more eggplant plants but nothing remained of them. The plants were about a foot and a half in size with fairly large leaves so it couldn't be a cutworm. I'm also attaching a photo of a strawberry that was eaten through. My garden is behind a five foot fence with chicken wire that is running along the bottom (2 feet height) so that smaller critters can not get in.
I know that deer can easily jump over, but they would leave foot marks, and there are none. I've inspected the ground around, and don't see any holes, nor do I see any prying in the fence anywhere. I was wondering what it might be. We do have a lot of groundhogs, deer, beavers, cottontail rabbits, moles, and lots and lots of birds, Central New Jersey. I grow lettuce less than 20 feet away, tomatoes, potatoes, and peppers and nothing was touched. Any clue?
-M