What's Eating My Japanese Forest Grass?

Haven't you ever heard of picking on someone your own size? This poor Japanese forest grass has been through a lot. It's just barely hanging on after being transplanted on July 4, and it was just starting to sprout a new shoot - when what do I find?? Chew marks! Snipped stems!

My guess is this is a sure sign of rabbits.

Looks like teeth marks to me

They bit off one of the 3 green stems, that's a big hit to this struggling plant!

Sliced clean through

We haven't had any rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels, or any other mammals move into our neighborhood yet. When they built all the houses, they basically stripped the whole area down to clay. Since then we are seeing plenty of bugs, worms, even frogs and toads - but no signs of mammals until now.

Since other blogs indicate rabbits eat Japanese forest grass, and since this plant is in my side yard and not protected by my dog fence, it seems like the best answer.

This was the new growth coming through a couple days ago, but this morning it was sliced clean to the ground. I'm hoping at least the roots are strong enough to make it through the winter, because above ground we are down to just 2 green stems and a few leaves!