A Mississauga man has been fined $5,000 and ordered to pay nearly $5,000 more in restitution after being found guilty of causing an animal to be in distress.
According to a bulletin from Ontario’s Solicitor General, Dimitri Majdalani was found guilty on January 16, 2026 in the Ontario Court of Justice in Mississauga of causing an animal to be in distress, contrary to section 15(1) of the Provincial Animal Welfare Services Act.
He was fined $5,000, ordered to pay $4,916.05 in restitution to Animal Welfare Services, and placed on a one-year probation order.
The PAWS Act is Ontario’s animal welfare law, enforced by provincial inspectors rather than by police or a humane society. The bulletin states that as of July 2026, Animal Welfare Services had issued more than 19,600 distress orders, laid over 2,500 charges and removed more than 18,500 animals.
Two other animal welfare convictions were published in the same batch of bulletins, in Blenheim and Welland.
Source: Ontario Newsroom bulletin, September 4, 2026.
