What has broken into our locked food waste caddy?!

[BafflingBurglar]

We have had a food waste caddy outside for some years now and the contents have always stayed undisturbed in between collections. It has a handle which pushes from the back, up over the top and down the front of it to lock it securely. It is not easy to open and requires some strength and dexterity. For the first time ever 'something' has managed to unlock it, tip it over and eat the contents.

What is the 'something'?!

PS UK-based, no bears - AFAIK.

Most likely a fox.

Fox I suspect. Round our way they learnt how to unlock them within a few months of us being given them. Everyone now either keeps them in top of Wheely bin, or with a brick on them (but they just knock them over), or have purpose-built cupboard/enclosures.

The wind knocked it over maybe? It was very gusty here yesterday, lots of potted plants were blown over.

Foxes or badgers. It's been hot and dry so maybe badgers struggling to find worms

I'd agree with foxes or badgers - we've seen both on our ring door bell

Fox or possibly rats. We've had little teeth marks on our curbside caddy that are definitely rodent.

We have a smilar one and foxes can open ours. we now keep it in a locked cupboard until collection day

I briefly got an image of foxes and badgers ringing your doorbell to ask for food.

Squirrels. Happened to us. I didn't believe it until I saw the little beggars doing it!

The foxes ( I'm pretty sure it's foxes as there's about a million where I live) can do mine which is similar.

Caught a badger breaking in to mine a couple of days ago. From the sound I thought someone was trying to steal my car!

@PuttingDownRoots : that would definitely be a video worth keeping. Sadly their manners are lacking and they resort to shoving across the paving trying to force the locking handle!!

It was foxes when we lived in the city, now in a village and it's badgers we have to be careful of. It has to sit on top of the wheelie at all times to be safe from them.

So badgers, foxes and squirrels are all likely suspects according to pps - thank you all, by the way. All of these are possible as we do get them in the garden. I also wondered about jackdaws as we have a marauding gang of those too. They are part of the crow family and highly intelligent, apparently.

Is that from experience @Iamacatslave or an intelligent guess? I have ruled out cats by the way because it would be too much like hard work and they are fussier eaters on the whole!

Have foxes been seen doing it, @Seeline and if so do they work solo or as a team? They are such good climbers, like badgers and squirrels, I guess they can get up onto the wheelie bins too if they want to?

It was last night or this morning @TheSpottedZebra but it has been gusty here at times today. I just don't think the wind would have unlocked it or eaten the contents and it had only travelled about 3ft.

I have a mental image of this lot sneaking round gardens.

This possibly answers my 'but why now' question, @HippyChickMama . We've had wildlife visiting and they haven't touched the caddy for all the years it's been there - so why now? We certainly have plenty of slugs, snails, hopefully earthworms and the odd mouse and rat for the foxes and badgers to eat, and they are welcome as natural garden pest controllers - not that earthworms are pests. But it has been unusually hot and dry these last two days, and the earth has been hard. I wonder too if slugs had got into the caddy and stayed in there with the weather, and the badger or fox sniffed them out rather than being after just the usual contents.

Foxes have got in to mine - they don't like tea bags, carrot peelings or egg shells apparently but will have a go at most other bits in there.

No ring door bell or CCTV unfortunately @Glittertwins . I've often thought about getting a wildlife camera to see just what is visiting and when, and to keep an eye on the rat population number. We only ever see one but there has to be more, especially as our nearest neighbour has chickens. We never see hedgehogs now but still wonder if they do come.

Can anyone recommend an easy wildlife camera?

probably the gusts didn't eat the contents, no. But a bin on its side would appeal to all sorts -foxes, badgers, cats, magpies, seagulls...

After reading your post @zafferana I went to have a closer look at the caddy with trepidation! There are definitely teeth and claw marks of varying size and depth but it's hard to know what from for sure. Perhaps it was a multi-creature gang like in @Itsnotwhatitlookslike 's picture! All I can say is it probably wasn't any of these:

All I can say is it probably wasn't any of these:
On second thoughts, with global warming you never know.

Have you seen them doing it @TinyTear or an intelligent guess ?