Posted on 01/28/2012 1:22:15 PM PST by smokingfrog
A down-on-his-luck soap-opera actor took his own life this week after he was forced to put his beloved dog to sleep under pressure from his New York City condo, friends said.
Nick Santino euthanized his dog, Rocco, on Tuesday, on Santino's 47th birthday. That night, his guilt over the gut-wrenching decision became too much to bear.
"Today [Tuesday], I betrayed my best friend and put down my best friend," he wrote in a suicide note, according to close friend Stuart Sarnoff. "Rocco trusted me, and I failed him. He didn't deserve this."
Santino -- a struggling actor whose TV credits include "All My Children" and "Guiding Light" -- adopted pit bull Rocco from a shelter several years ago.
The Brooklyn-born performer, who was raised in an orphanage and foster homes, soon began to write about his pet on Facebook, saying, "I did not rescue Rocco, Rocco rescued me."
But in 2010, his building at 1 Lincoln Plaza announced strict new dog regulations, including a ban on pit bulls. The ban did not apply to pit bulls already in the building, but friends and neighbors said Santino began to feel harassed.
"People were complaining about his dog," according to neighbor Kevan Cleary, 63, an adjunct professor at Brooklyn Law School. "It was open season on him."
Rocco could not ride in the main elevators and was not allowed to be left in the apartment alone for more than nine hours.
Santino then was threatened with a $250 fine for having a barking dog, neighbors said.
The building's management refused to comment Friday.
After months of increasing anguish, Santino had the healthy dog put to sleep Tuesday.
(Excerpt) Read more at myfoxdfw.com ...
Very sad.
Anyone who has pets can identify with this story.
Simply moving was not an option??
If anyone had forced me to take my dog’s life, I would have done the same as this gentleman did.
Sometimes a dog isn’t just a dog or just a pet.
A dog is what keeps us hanging onto this life, minute by minute.
RIP Mr Santino and Rocco!
“Simply moving was not an option??”
Exactly. Or giving the dog to someone in the country who keeps pit bulls?
moving might not have been an option. It was a condo not an apt. Renting an apt is not easy in NYC.
That is a horribly sad story. I do indeed identify. I hope the people who live in his building feel like the selfish pieces of crap they are.... but creatures that low on the totem pole rarely understand much of anything.
His suicide was because of his realization that he could have done much better for his dog. Doesn't appear he was a very clear thinker.
How terribly sad, especially that he was so alone he had no one to help him with this problem. Rest in peace.
Children who are raised in institutions like this actor have very fragile egos and are emotionally crippled in many ways.
That is why a loving biological mother and father are crucial to healthy emotional development. Destroy the family and you destroy children and make them emotionally weak, so they are unable to fight against tyranny.
Well the dog lovers will be out to get me, but this is just dumb and indicative of the rot in our civilization.
Why does this 47 year old “man” not have a wife and children to anchor him to reality and life?
Why was this adult male unable to effectively problem solve and find a new adoptive home for his dog and/or just find a new place to live if the dog was so important to him?
What, five post already and none of the “Kill ‘em all” Pitbull haters have chimed in yet?
Sad story, guy should have thought and fought harder against the mindless drones.
Or even a "life partner."
Too bad you’ve never known the real love from a pet.
I feel sorry for you.
Too bad you’ve never known the real love from a pet.
I feel sorry for you.
I would be living under a bridge, wiping my ass with leaves before I gave up my dog for the convenience of my neighbors.
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