Animal abuse issue in Mabel Davis Park
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Lynne Margolis
Feb 17, 2026, 6:27:36 PMFeb 17
to Samuel Noble, massiel...@austintexas.gov, Charles Loosen, Jose Velasquez, District 3, Kirk Watson, Burleson/Parker Crime Taskforce, EROC - East Riverside Oltorf Combined Neighborhood Planning Organization
Hi there,
I'm emailing all of you because of an issue that was brought to my attention yesterday regarding a case of animal abuse in Mabel Davis Park. The email below describes the situation and includes photos. The person who wrote it tried calling animal control, who referred them to 911, who referred them to 311. Of course, nothing was done.
Later emails indicated the person is homeless, which is why Charles Loosen is copied here. I don't know about any of you, but I take animal abuse and cruelty very seriously, and wish the city would start taking Henry Sector crime reports more seriously. After I responded that I thought 911 should have handled this and in the future, the caller should insist on police response, another resident emailed me privately and suggested I should just avoid Mabel Davis for a while.
I already avoid Mabel Davis if I can't complete the walking path before sunset. It is the only park in walking distance from my condo at Timber Ridge, where we are regularly besieged by trespassers damaging our property. They know threats to call police are useless; when someone suggests it, they say, "Go ahead." One of our residents reported an encounter earlier today with someone sitting on our Timber Ridge sign at the corner of Parker Lane and Royal Hill Drive, throwing trash around it. She asked him to pick it up and he told her he would when he was ready and to get out of his business. She told him she didn't want to call police, but that he was littering on private property. He left. His trash stayed. A couple of weeks ago, she encountered someone passed out just beyond her doorstep. She does not feel safe because they can see where she lives. We all feel this way, and are tired of having to just put up with what's going on in our neighborhood.
Two weeks ago, we also discovered evidence that someone had broken into and was living inside a storage room near our pool ⏤ which regularly costs us thousands to repair damages caused by people breaking into our pump house and fiddling with the system.
We have a blanket trespass permit on file, but it doesn't do us any good if we can't get responses when we call.
Whatever we do, it's never enough to address what's going on around here. I shouldn't have to stay out of my neighborhood park so dangerous, abusive people can hang out there, but that's what it's come to.
You all know these issues are going to increase exponentially when the navigation center opens, no matter how much sugarcoating you put on it. Promises were made when the Southbridge shelter opened, and the situation just keeps getting worse.
If anyone recognizes the person and dog in these photos, I hope you'll do something to rescue that poor animal. Lots of unhoused people are loving pet owners; the issue here is not the dog's housing status. It's how it's being treated, and the city's failure to address myriad safety threats in this community, whether humans or animals are the ones at risk.
I'm emailing all of you because of an issue that was brought to my attention yesterday regarding a case of animal abuse in Mabel Davis Park. The email below describes the situation and includes photos. The person who wrote it tried calling animal control, who referred them to 911, who referred them to 311. Of course, nothing was done.
Later emails indicated the person is homeless, which is why Charles Loosen is copied here. I don't know about any of you, but I take animal abuse and cruelty very seriously, and wish the city would start taking Henry Sector crime reports more seriously. After I responded that I thought 911 should have handled this and in the future, the caller should insist on police response, another resident emailed me privately and suggested I should just avoid Mabel Davis for a while.
I already avoid Mabel Davis if I can't complete the walking path before sunset. It is the only park in walking distance from my condo at Timber Ridge, where we are regularly besieged by trespassers damaging our property. They know threats to call police are useless; when someone suggests it, they say, "Go ahead." One of our residents reported an encounter earlier today with someone sitting on our Timber Ridge sign at the corner of Parker Lane and Royal Hill Drive, throwing trash around it. She asked him to pick it up and he told her he would when he was ready and to get out of his business. She told him she didn't want to call police, but that he was littering on private property. He left. His trash stayed. A couple of weeks ago, she encountered someone passed out just beyond her doorstep. She does not feel safe because they can see where she lives. We all feel this way, and are tired of having to just put up with what's going on in our neighborhood.
Two weeks ago, we also discovered evidence that someone had broken into and was living inside a storage room near our pool ⏤ which regularly costs us thousands to repair damages caused by people breaking into our pump house and fiddling with the system.
We have a blanket trespass permit on file, but it doesn't do us any good if we can't get responses when we call.
Whatever we do, it's never enough to address what's going on around here. I shouldn't have to stay out of my neighborhood park so dangerous, abusive people can hang out there, but that's what it's come to.
You all know these issues are going to increase exponentially when the navigation center opens, no matter how much sugarcoating you put on it. Promises were made when the Southbridge shelter opened, and the situation just keeps getting worse.
If anyone recognizes the person and dog in these photos, I hope you'll do something to rescue that poor animal. Lots of unhoused people are loving pet owners; the issue here is not the dog's housing status. It's how it's being treated, and the city's failure to address myriad safety threats in this community, whether humans or animals are the ones at risk.
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Cary Cordova <clco...@gmail.com>
To: Burleson/Parker Crime Taskforce <thew...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Monday, February 16, 2026 at 02:04:57 PM CST
Subject: [TheWatch] Man screaming at dog in Mabel Davis
Hi y’all,
We were walking in Mabel Davis park today around 1:50 pm when we heard a man screaming. We held back because we weren’t sure who he was screaming at, then realized it was a dog that he was making drag a plastic crate. The dog didn’t want to come. We ended up trying to intervene but he just became angry at us and declared he was training / punishing his dog and don’t tell him what to do. He became very angry and threatening.
Trying to think about best practices for this dog?
I’m including a couple of pics…
Cary
APD South District Representative: Ofc. Massiel Taveras Ph: (512) 974-6237 Email: massiel...@austintexas.gov
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Suzie Riddle
Feb 17, 2026, 7:22:41 PMFeb 17
to Lynne Margolis, Samuel Noble, massiel...@austintexas.gov, Charles Loosen, Jose Velasquez, District, Kirk Watson, Taskforce Burleson Parker Crime, ero...@googlegroups.com
Is the guy still in the park? Is he living there? Has anyone seen him recently? Does he still have the dog?
So, I’m confused. For our future reference, are supposed to call 911 for animal abuse? Or does it depend on the urgency?? Or…?
Thanks
Suzie Riddle
On Feb 17, 2026, at 5:27 PM, 'Lynne Margolis' via Burleson/Parker Crime Taskforce <thew...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thewatch/235141036.1499605.1771370813386%40mail.yahoo.com.
<IMG_7575.jpeg><IMG_7576.jpeg>
Lynne Margolis
Feb 17, 2026, 10:26:45 PMFeb 17
to Suzie Riddle, Samuel Noble, massiel...@austintexas.gov, Charles Loosen, Jose Velasquez, District, Kirk Watson, Taskforce Burleson Parker Crime, ero...@googlegroups.com
Suzie,
This email was written to protest the city's lack of response to a situation that happened yesterday. The problem was that the sender called Animal Control, 911 and 311, and no agency responded. I have no idea if the guy is living in the park or not. That's for the Homeless Strategy Office and APD to determine. But the point is that too many situations are not being addressed, and as far as I'm concerned, animal abuse is very serious and should not be dropped to a 311-level response ⏤ which is essentially the same as nothing happening at all. The caller might hear back in 14 days, if they happen to recognize the phone number and pick up when someone calls back. They won't be in proximity to the dog or abuser and it's unlikely anyone who might bother looking for the dog or owner days or weeks after the report will locate them at the scene.
This email was written to protest the city's lack of response to a situation that happened yesterday. The problem was that the sender called Animal Control, 911 and 311, and no agency responded. I have no idea if the guy is living in the park or not. That's for the Homeless Strategy Office and APD to determine. But the point is that too many situations are not being addressed, and as far as I'm concerned, animal abuse is very serious and should not be dropped to a 311-level response ⏤ which is essentially the same as nothing happening at all. The caller might hear back in 14 days, if they happen to recognize the phone number and pick up when someone calls back. They won't be in proximity to the dog or abuser and it's unlikely anyone who might bother looking for the dog or owner days or weeks after the report will locate them at the scene.
Basically, it doesn't seem to matter which agency is called. He was referred to 911 by animal control, then referred to 311 by 911. It's a frustrating loop of non-action, but not addressing humans and animals in unsafe situations is not acceptable. This city needs to do better.
Lynne Margolis
Feb 19, 2026, 3:56:31 PMFeb 19
to Noble, Samuel, Suzie Riddle, Taveras, Massiel, Charles Loosen, Velasquez, Jose, District 3, Watson, Kirk, Burleson/Parker Crime Taskforce, ero...@googlegroups.com
Thank-you so much for your response, Sam. I’m sorry I didn’t know that 911 had responded; a subsequent email from the original poster to another person who suggested calling 911 read, "Thanks, Jake! Yes, I called in first to animal control who sent me to 911, then 311. Consider it reported, but perhaps if anyone sees this guy, I’m glad to pass along any updates.”
There was no indication that the 911 dispatcher told the caller an officer would be sent to check out the situation. I would have written a very different email — or likely not sent one at all — if I had known. We understand you have a large area to cover and not enough officers to do so. That said, response times are already a concern, and that’s a big reason we don’t call every time we have an issue: we know the likelihood of the person causing a problem still being around by the time someone arrives is small, and if an officer responds to a trespassing call, that might mean delaying response to a call for more serious animal (or human) abuse.
That’s why we’re feeling incredibly vulnerable and unprotected in general, and knowing what’s coming is even more distressing. I am sitting at Cafe Creme on Oltorf as I write this. I just met with a woman who lives in the neighbhorhood behind the Palms Car Wash, literally 2 minutes’ walking distance from here. We both agreed that this is a great place; too bad neither of us feels safe walking here even in broad daylight.
Lynne Margolis
1750 Timber Ridge Road No. 111
On Feb 18, 2026, at 10:19 AM, Noble, Samuel <samuel...@austintexas.gov> wrote:So I just looked up the call. An officer was there on scene within 20 minutes and checked the park. He did not locate the subject or the dog. The officer did not find them so the call was closed. There is not much more we can do with that with the information we were provided. I’m very certain the person does not live in Mabel Davis as myself and my team have been out there twice in the last 3 weeks and haven’t even found much trash let alone camps. As for the person trespassing on HOA property, they contacted me as well. They told me they chose not to call 911 because the person trespassing was a certain race and they didn’t want the police to show up and arrest them or over react to whatever situation might arise. If somebody chooses not to call 911 in the moment, and email me well after the fact, that does not do anybody any good.If any camps do happen to pop up, let me know and they will get added to our list. I try and get out there as often as I can but I also have to work the rest of the city south of the river so I rely on residents to let me know when things happen. As for the dog complaint, that was handled appropriately on our end from everything I can see. I understand the 911-311 bouncing around is frustrating but I have no control over that, an officer was there within 20 minutes. For any future trespassing on HOA property, that will be a 911 call. Remind residents to give a good description of the person, and the area they are in or the direction they are going. This will help the responding patrol officer. But a 911 call needs to be placed for them to show up. If you have any other questions please feel free to call me at 512-974-5379SamGet Outlook for iOSFrom: Lynne Margolis <pops...@aol.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2026 9:25:52 PM
To: Suzie Riddle <s...@fabsville.com>
Cc: Noble, Samuel <Samuel...@austintexas.gov>; Taveras, Massiel <Massiel...@austintexas.gov>; Loosen, Charles <Charles...@austintexas.gov>; Velasquez, Jose <Jose.Ve...@austintexas.gov>; District 3 <Dist...@austintexas.gov>; Watson, Kirk <Kirk....@austintexas.gov>; Taskforce Burleson Parker Crime <thew...@googlegroups.com>; ero...@googlegroups.com <ero...@googlegroups.com>
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