The freedom to sprint and chase — these moments spent running wild at a dog park are often the best part of the day for a dog living in an urban jungle.
That’s exactly what Jonas Silva hoped to give his five-month-old puppy, McCoy, when he let him off-leash for the first time in Pulaski Park in November 2024, in the southern part of Mott Haven, five minutes from his apartment.
Silva wanted McCoy to burn off some energy, but instead the puppy bolted onto the street. Moments later, Silva found McCoy lying there after a car crashed into him.
“He was limping, screaming. And I see he had blood coming out of his face,” Silva recalled.
Despite being rushed to the vet immediately, McCoy died from his injuries that same day.
“Had there been a safe place where there’s a gated dog run, where I could have let my dogs run around off-leash, I would never have felt the need to do that,” he said.
For residents of Mott Haven and Port Morris in the South Bronx, getting to the closest dog requires a 35-minute commute to St. Mary’s Park Dog Run on 144th Street. Now, Silva is working to change that by advocating for a dog run closer to home.
In January 2025, Silva launched Dogs of Mott Haven, an organization that is advocating for the city to build a dog run in this highly residential area. Silva initially focused on an empty lot behind Pulaski Park, between Bruncker Avenue and Willis Avenue Bridge.
The lot, currently under the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) jurisdiction, was overrun with trash and needles. Silva organized several community events to clean up and beautify the site, but without city permission, they cannot use the currently vacant space.
The lot must be transferred from DOT to NYC Parks to qualify as a dog run site, according to Silva. Progress has been slow on this front, complicated by the departure of the previous Bronx DOT Commissioner, who had promised to coordinate with NYC Parks, Silva said.
William Jimenez, deputy press secretary of DOT, told the Bronx Times in a statement, “DOT would review any formal proposal.”
Silva plans to restart conversations with the new Acting DOT Commissioner and newly elected City Councilwoman Elsie Encarnacion this year.
And there is demand. Eddie Mota, 29, has lived in the area for over a decade with his two-year-old dog Kenzo.
“The closest dog parks are a bit far from us, so we usually take him here to Bankside Park,” he said.
“I definitely want to see a dog run in the area. There’s a lot of cars around here, and sadly a lot of folks have lost their dogs by them being off-leash and running away, or being on leash.”
Diane Ho, another Mott Haven resident, voiced similar frustrations, “We don’t have anything for the dogs. And even in a lot of these luxury buildings, like the one I live in, a lot of the outdoor areas, the dogs are not allowed to go.”
Dog runs are not just for dogs, especially in poorer neighborhoods, according to Edwin Gomez, a professor at the Department of Recreation Sciences at East Carolina University.
Gomez explained that “One of the largest benefits is and actually helps crime. Dogs are very sensitive to people that want to do bad things, and that is actually found in the literature (that) crime goes down,” Gomez said.
Another benefit to having dog parks is its boost on real estate prices in the neighborhood, Gomez said. “So there are advantages to making sure, especially from an equity perspective, that there are dog parks in lower income areas,” he said.
For Silva, a dog run is just as much for the dogs’ owners as for the dogs.
“At the end of the day, you don’t have to be the dog walker that is walking their dog on their phone with their head down, not wanting to make eye contact,” he said.
“You are actually in a place with other dog owners that are there for the same reason, you have the same likes. And I just feel like it’s something positive for the community.”
Carol Chen is a student at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism. For more coverage, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!
