Breed specific legislation took two lives this time. Brooklyn’s Nick Santino, a down on his luck actor, had his beloved dog put to sleep due to pressure from his Upper West Side NYC condo association reports the New York Post.
“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.”
Santino was so grief stricken over the loss of his beloved pet, he took his own life.
According to the Post story, Santino’s building located at “1 Lincoln Plaza announced strict new dog regulations, including a ban on pit bulls.”
A neighbor in the building, Kevan Cleary who teaches law at Brooklyn Law School says, "People were complaining about his dog. It was open season on him.”
After threats and fines, “He felt like he was in this battle because he was the only guy in the building with a pit-bull mix,” added Cleary.
“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.”
Bottom line, this man lost his life and his dog due to breed specific legislation. Grumpy neighbors complained about Rocco who reportedly never barked or bothered anyone. Perhaps the residents of 1 Lincoln Place can rest a little better at night knowing that Rocco has been killed.
BSL is unfair and only hurts the innocent. How many more must die before breed specific legislation is realized to be cruel and ineffective?
Please subscribe to and keep reading the American Pit Bull column where this and other pit bull stories are followed and the truth, made known.
Join National Examiner's American Pit Bull on Facebook.
Check out Pit Bulls and Other Animals blog.
Author - Pit Bull Nation
Pit Bull Nation is a tell all book about rescuing pit bulls from death row for over twelve years.
Now available in e-book and print.
Comments