Νέα Υόρκη,Μανχάταν. Ο 47χρονος ηθοποιός Nick Santino αυτοκτόνησε γιατί αναγκάστηκε να κάνει ευθανασία στον 5χρονο υγιέστατο σκύλο του Rocco.Στο σημείωμα που άφησε πριν αυτοκτονήσει έγραψε
«σήμερα πρόδωσα τον καλύτερο φίλο μου. Ο Rocco με εμπιστεύτηκε κι εγώ τον εγκατέλειψα, δεν του άξιζε αυτό»
Ο αυστηρός κανονισμός που τέθηκε το 2010 στην οικοδομή που ζούσε και η απαγόρευση για τα σκυλιά ράτσας πιτ μπουλ, του χρέωσαν πρόστιμα από δήθεν ενοχλημένους γείτονες του και του δημιούργησαν μεγάλη ψυχολογική πίεση.
Ο Rocco δεν επιτρεπόταν να μπει στο ασανσέρ και δεν επιτρεπόταν να μείνει στο διαμέρισμα μόνος του για περισσότερες από εννέα ώρες Η αφόρητη πίεση, ανάγκασε τον ηθοποιό να κάνει ευθανασία στο σκυλί του, που το διέσωσε από καταφύγιο.Το πτώμα του Rocco αποτεφρώθηκε , ομοίως και του ιδιοκτήτη του Santino, οι στάχτες τους ενώθηκαν για να είναι μαζί για πάντα. Soap actor commits suicide after pup's 'forced' euthanasia
January 28, 2012
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 Upper West Side condo
and became wracked by grief, pals said.
Nick Santino euthanized his dog, Rocco,
Tuesday — on Santino’s 47th birthday. That night, his guilt over the
gut-wrenching decision became too much to bear.
“Today I betrayed my best friend and put
down my best friend,” a despondent Santino wrote in a suicide note, said close
friend Stuart Sarnoff.
“Rocco trusted me and I failed him. He
didn’t deserve this.”
HOUNDED
TO DEATH: After putting down his beloved pit pull Rocco amid pressure
from his condo, Nick Santino took his own life.
The Brooklyn-born Santino — a struggling actor whose TV credits include “All My
Children” and “Guiding Light” — adopted Rocco from a shelter several years ago.
The man, raised in an orphanage and foster
homes, soon began to write about his pet on Facebook, writing, “I did not
rescue Rocco, Rocco rescued me.”
But in 2010, his building at 1 Lincoln
“People were complaining about his dog,”
said neighbor Kevan Cleary, 63, an adjunct professor at Brooklyn Law
School
Rocco couldn’t ride in the main elevators
and wasn’t allowed to be left in the apartment alone for more than nine hours.
Santino was then threatened with a $250
fine for having a barking dog, neighbors said.
“The dog was not a barker, but somebody
complained that the dog would bark,” Cleary said.“He felt like he was in this battle because he was the only guy in the building with a pit-bull mix,” Cleary added.
Another neighbor, Lia Pettigrew, who runs a pet-care company, said, “Everybody knows that he had been harassed by the building management.”
The building’s management refused to comment yesterday.
After months of increasing anguish, Santino had the healthy dog put to sleep Tuesday.
Neighbors said a tearful Santino brought dog treats to the building’s doorman and said: “Give these to the other dogs. Rocco is no more.”
Dog owner James Steven Grant said Santino left two rawhide bones on his doorstep and earlier was seen tearfully giving away Rocco’s fluffy bed.
“Rocco was the sweetest dog in the world. Rocco wouldn’t hurt a fly,” Grant said.
A veterinarian told Santino that Rocco was becoming aggressive — and Santino blamed it on his own depression.
He spent Tuesday in agony over what he had done to Rocco.
“He was distraught and remorseful about putting down his best friend,” Cleary said.
The last phone call he made was to a former girlfriend at 2 a.m. Wednesday. Later that day, police found his body in his bedroom. He had overdosed on pills.
Rocco has been cremated, and friends said Santino’s remains will be, too, and they will be reunited.
“One way or another, their ashes will be together forever,” Sarnoff said.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/doggone_shame_1a9XYW8u9ZLlqwRJTa6jrN
