Are you sure it's dead? Or just worse for wear? If you haven't tossed it yet, try potting it up and growing it on for a while - it might turn out to be just fine.

Its crispy dead.

I have hundreds of pots and an equal number of gray tree squirrels. Every morning my first chore is to replant all those plants dug up by the squirrels. They dig in the pots to plant acorns or walnuts. They have no interest in the existing plants. As long as I get them replanted right away I seldom loose the plant. Al

That has to be so frustrating. I suffered a lot of winter wet losses this year, but nothing compared to you.

I feel your pain on the potting soil fiasco. I used Miracle Gro Moisture Control soil (NOT cheap) in my greenhouse the year before last and lost almost everything to rot and had fungus gnats from He**. I lost gardenias, agapanthus, cannas, fuchsias, and I can't even remember what else. The Gardenia radicans (dwarf variegated) was the biggest loss. I had never found one here before or since.

My biggest lost was my green goddess calla lily, I lost all three bulbs. The canna will will reproduce like rabbits and thanks to beachplant I will have more canna then I know what to do with. Next to the calla was the taros, they're not cheap around here and few places carry them anymore. One third of the seeds I started indoors did make it up so it wasn't a complete lost.