Dogs from the area united and kids got an early start on Easter by dying eggs and hunting for them Saturday at the Pine Bluff Animal Control complex at Martin Luther King Jr. Park.
The occasion was the Animal Control’s inaugural Adoptable Dog Parade and Easter Egg Hunt. Dogs from the shelter were put on parade along with their canine neighbors, hoping they could find a forever home.
“We had an amazing turnout,” administrative assistant Whitney Grauel said. “We have approximately 46 dogs we’re going to be parading around this large yard.”
Potential owners could adopt a dog for $50, half the regular fee. That would cover the microchip, spay/neuter fee and rabies vaccine for a year, Grauel said.
“Previously you’d have to get your animal registered with the city and have a tag fixed around the collar and with a rabies [shot],” Grauel said. “Now, you can get a microchip, and that takes the place of the registration for the rest of the dog’s life. You no longer have to have it registered through the city, as long as you have that chip.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The fee for the microchip is $25 for an unaltered pet or $10 for altered pet.
Volunteers at Animal Control are welcome from 1-4:30 p.m. weekdays and will be asked to fill out a waiver, Grauel said.
The same time the festivities began at Animal Control, the Pine Bluff Community Center on Ash Street saw shots fly and baskets swish inside the gymnasium for the inaugural games of an offseason basketball league called Saracen Swish.
The league is open to young men ages 13-15. Presently 45 boys are competing among six teams.
“Pretty much, it was an open collaboration with the Pine Bluff Parks and Recreation Department], and we had some community-minded individuals who stepped up to the plate,” said Terence Mitchner, the assistant parks director for the city who helped organize the league. “These are my coaches. They’re volunteer coaches. We did an informational [session], we put it out there, and the coaches came in. We’re going to volunteer our time. We’re going to coach these boys. We had the coaches in place, and then the boys came in.”
The aim of Saracen Swish is to give the boys something to do beyond the traditional scholastic basketball season. The league, which will be active through June, is collaborating with the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and Southeast Arkansas College, as well as Group Violence Intervention, to keep programming going for the youths.
Mitchner said volunteers are openly communicating about organizing a girls league.
“The key thing is finding people who are willing to invest their time with the kids and the community,” Mitchner said. “Hopefully it will come about, but right now, we’re just putting it out there to see who will take the bite.”
Melissa Wilson of Petsense and Paula Bailey, a Pine Bluff Animal Control volunteer, help Madre get her nails clipped. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)
Amy “Gigi” Morgan, foreground right, and Emma Brown, background right, help kids dye eggs. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)
A member of the Bulls fires a jump shot against the Cavaliers during the opening day of Saracen Swish on Saturday, March 30, 2024, at the Pine Bluff Community Center. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)