Solutions, anyone?

We have been having a bit of a problem in our backyard for a little while now. However, this little problem is turning into a bigger problem. We have blamed our dog, stray cats, wild turkeys, a raccoon, and now? A badger? (Does Oregon have badgers?) A small black bear? A coyote? What in the world is the creature who is doing THIS to our yard...

We put our lawn clippings as mulch/compost here and it seems that it offers a great location to find worms and other bugs and such. This problem began by "only" finding the grass clippings disturbed. Then the roots of that little sprig of a tree were being exposed. Then the rhubarb was getting trounced a bit. Then the orderly edges of the lawn were being disturbed. NOW, this...

The other morning (about 5 am) Pops and I found ourselves with two extra bodies in our bed. So, he took the girls back to their room and when he came back to our room, we listened to this screechy sound along with some scratching. He got up to look and couldn't really see much in the pitch black morning. But, we are certain that there was a "creature" trying to get back up and over our 6 ft. privacy fence.

After further inspection, we have seen claw marks in the corner of our fence. There is some evidence of fur in that same corner. The yard is becoming a real problem. Besides the lawn in the pictures, it is possible that there is evidence this (or some other) critter has taken up residence UNDER the lower deck in the back yard. This might not be a nice leaf and worm eating creature, but instead one with attack capabilities as I believe I may have spotted (shudder) the remains of one of our neighborhood roaming cats.

We are ready to get out the .22, but we are currently trying to stay as law-abiding citizens who live in town. We do not own a bow and arrow. We do not have a sling-shot. We have a hoe, a rake, a shovel, pliers, hammers, ladders and the like. I would like to see that this creature no longer is wreaking havoc in my yard. I would like to know that it is GONE. I don't want to "re-route" the critter. I want it "G-O-N-E... Gone from this life, Gone!" Sorry, the cheering is slipping into other parts of my life.

Anyone have any suggestions? How do you exterminate these kinds of wild things? We spray for spiders and bugs at our house. We try to keep things good to go around here, but I am stumped with how we are going to get this problem under control.

Our go-forward ideas to implement this weekend:

1. Install electric fence around the perimeter of the fence.
2. Put up rolled barbed wire, with a string or two of electric fence included, around the top of our 6 foot fence.
3. Lay out enough poison to stop whatever it is dead in its tracks, right there as it tries to carry on with its current plan.
4. Install a night vision, motion detecting camera.
5. Set up "camp" in Pops' downstairs office for he and Bud to monitor the over-night activity.
6. Turn a radio on to play human noise down there 24/7.

Any thoughts or ideas on what it might be? What should we do to "get rid of this problem"? I think that I need a Soprano family...

I plan to take some more pictures regarding the other evidence of the creature. If you have any ideas of what all to look for to determine what the critter is... please share. I am getting desperate. I am totally repulsed and won't let my dog out in the backyard anymore. Please help us figure out the mystery... I need some crime scene tape, I think. More pictures to come. ICK.