Cat poop or wild animal droppings? Warning; pile picture!

You had to pay? How long did you have the cat in custody? Sounds like the animal was not tattooed or chipped. You check with Tasso, veterinarians, and animal shelters first before making a big fuss.

Where I have to vehemently disagree with you is your final consequence, to kill the cat if necessary. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED to do that and you have no right to it. If the cat owner finds out, severe penalties will be imposed. That you consider it your personal right is a completely different matter. But that does not make it any more legal. So you are forced to solve it differently.

not allowed to catch the cat. That we did not do it intentionally did not matter.
Even sprinkling pepper in the garden is very borderline. If the cat gets irritated, you may have to pay veterinary costs.
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Hello Evolith

apparently there is indeed a high potential for trouble here.
As I already emphasized, I like cats. I also like dogs and birds and all the critters that fly through my garden. I like it less or not at all when domesticated animals poop in my garden. Whether dog or cat: I don’t want that. But now I would approach every owner and ask them to come up with solutions. If they don’t think about it and assume that they or their animal are allowed to do that, I will solve the problem. One of the solutions is to catch the animal. If the owner denies that their animal poops in the garden, I must do this.
The problem lies with the cat owner who thinks he can dispose of my property. That will not be the case.
And now seriously: "severe penalties will be imposed"
If you have a cat or a dog in a confined space, the probability is high that it will react aggressively to you. And whether an object falls on me, a dog wants to bite me, or a cat tries to scratch me, in all cases I have the right to emergency self-defense. Whether the owner likes it or not.
I ask again: why are cat owners so closed off to solving their problem? They are the cause.

Steven

You had to pay?
How long did you have the cat in custody? Sounds like the animal was not marked with a tattoo or chip. You first check with Tasso, vets, and animal shelters before making a big fuss.

The cat was tattooed but it was hard to recognize. We made 3 reports to Tasso. The annoying thing was that none of the 3 guessed combinations was correct. Personally, I classify it as "bad luck." The cat was, I believe, in the neighboring animal shelter for about 2 months. The local one was full and had several serious quarantine cases.
You can't really blame the woman. She did everything that is normally done. Visited the animal shelter (too bad the kitty lived next door), contacted Tasso, flyers. What was so costly were the ads in all the local newspapers. She was then very upset (though happy) when the animal was found and quite angry with animal welfare. I can really understand that.

Hello Evolith

Apparently, there is indeed a high potential for trouble here.
As I already emphasized, I like cats. I also like dogs and birds and all the critters that "fly around" in my garden. What I like less or not at all is when domesticated animals poop in my garden. Whether dog or cat: I don't want that. Now I would approach every owner and ask them to provide solutions. If they don't think about it and believe that they or their animal are allowed to do so, I will solve the problem. One of the solutions is to catch the animal. If the owner denies that his animal soils the garden, I have to do this.
The problem lies with the cat owner who thinks he can dispose of my property. That will not be the case.
And now seriously: "harsh penalties will be imposed."
If you have a cat or dog confined, the likelihood is high that it will react aggressively to you. And whether an object falls on me, a dog wants to bite me, or a cat tries to scratch me—in all cases I have the right to emergency defense. Whether the owner likes it or not.
I ask again: why are cat owners so closed off when it comes to solving their problem? They are the cause.

Steven

As I said, I can understand that you feel the need to firmly "defend" your property. But strictly legally speaking, you are not allowed to do so by all means. Forcing a cat to attack is almost impossible. If they don't naturally have a strong aggression potential, you are fighting a losing battle. They are way too quick to corner them.
As stupid as it is, legally speaking, you have no choice but to take the trouble and use harmless methods if the owner is uncooperative.
If you do take a hard line, you have to expect lawsuits.

That's true, the tattoos are often unreadable. I always get both done.

instead of making the effort and choosing harmless methods, the owner should be uncooperative. If you do resort to the hard approach, you must expect lawsuits.

Hello Evolith exactly that is the problem. If a cat owner (and they are the majority) does not cooperate in solving a problem, they also should not complain when the garden owner solves the problem. What I do not understand: cat owners see themselves as God-given animal lovers. But they have no problem with their beloved pet slowly massacring small animals. You can watch that coldly. It doesn’t bother you. How do you reconcile that with animal protection? Or does that not apply when rabbits are tortured to death by your cats over hours? I find this sight horrible. I once had that with the neighbor’s cat. My wife urged me to do something. Then the territory owner solved the problem. Steven

What I don't understand: Cat owners see themselves as animal lovers by the grace of God. Steven

Um, I don't want to have anything to do with God. Just saying. If I, as a cat owner, am an animal lover, then I could be glad if they only massacre mice and birds. Instead, I feed huge amounts of chicken and beef to the furry noses. Anyone who thinks about it quickly realizes that this black-and-white thinking leads to nothing. I personally am happy about every creature that still flies in my little biotope. I'm even starting to make peace with spiders, but it's hard. Unfortunately, in this world of environmental destruction, I already consider it nonsense to grant or deny some people the privilege of life. So far, I have experienced no willingness to solve the big environmental issues and explicitly the animal rights issues. Should society in my lifetime still decide to take a step here, I will be the first to join. But until then, I am tired of fighting windmills. Therefore, we also have canned beef for the cats.