Animal activist neighbors or just kids playing pranks?

When I moved into where I live now, I knew it wasn't the greatest part of town. I often worry that we may have someone try to break into our house... or that a shooting in the apartments behind us will flow over to our backyard. But the things that have happened to us here are nothing but strange. Today I discovered for the second time that someone had cut our dog's tie-out. Now my husband insists that our dog just chewed through it... but I have seen what a metal chain looks like when a dog has chewed on it and what one looks like when someone has cut them with wire cutters (and its the second time... the first time it happened even his dad agreed that someone had to have cut it with wire cutters). Ours also was a very nice thick braided wire (the first one even thicker). Now normally our dog wouldn't need to be on a tie-out, but due to another strange thing that has happened to us, we must. Someone stole the gate to our fence. Yes, I know. Just the gate, no other section of the fence at all (doesn't even look like they tried too), just the gate. So due to that fact, we have to put him on a tie-out so that he doesn't wander off. He is a good dog and will stay in the yard for the most part, but if he has to be left for a while he gets bored and will start to wander. So to say the least the first project on my list for things to get done during the spring/summer seasons is to put up a new fence... and a privacy fence at that to keep out our little animal activists and short cutters (I often catch kids from the apartment complex trying to climb over our fence so as to cut through to their friends house who lives in my neighborhood). Also to keep them from teasing Bandit and throwing things at him (they like to bark at him and throw rocks and various toys at him... kids are so cruel now days). Now I do not know what I am going to do. It is pointless to get another tie-out if someone is going to just cut it and it will still be a little bit until we can afford to get the new fence up. *sigh* Right now he is laying on the back porch sun bathing... he is going to hate it when I make him come inside.