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“All my Children” actor Nick Santino commits suicide after putting dog to sleep

Posted in January 28th, 2012

Nick Santino, a New York City native who had appeared in several soap operas, committed suicide after he was forced to euthanized his dog.

According to the New York Post, Santino, who had appeared on “All my Children” and Guiding Light,” was forced to put his beloved pit-bull named Rocco to sleep this week after neighbors in his apartment building at 1 Lincoln Plaza began to harass him about having a dog in the building.

According to the Post, in 2010 the condo board “announced strict new dog regulations, including a ban on pit bulls, [however] the ban did not apply to pit bulls already in the building.”

The newspaper quoted one of Santino’s neighbors, a 63-year-old Brooklyn College law professor named Kevan Cleary, as saying that “people were complaining about his dog. It was open season on him.”

The final straw came this week when the out-of-work actor was threatened with a $250 fine for having a barking dog in the building.

On his 47-birthday on Tuesday, Santino put his healthy dog to sleep. The following day his body was found in his bedroom with a bottle of pills next to it.

The news article said that Santino left a suicide note behind saying “Today I betrayed my best friend and put down my best friend…Rocco trusted me and I failed him. He didn’t deserve this.”

Friends said that Santino had Rocco cremated and they plan to cremate Santino also.

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4 users commented in " “All my Children” actor Nick Santino commits suicide after putting dog to sleep "

weighallthefactsfirst said,

in January 29th, 2012 at 4:37 am

As sorry as I feel for anyone who feels that life is not worth living without your pet… and as much as I love and adore ALL animals…

Fact is, there was waaaay more going on with this guy than his dog. STABLE people do not automatically take their own lives over a pet.

I have personally been in his situation- having to give up a pet, due to regulations. It’s hard, but not worth taking my life. Why not move to another place? Why not take the dog to a no-kill shelter? And, no disrespect intended to the deceased, but I know that politically, this will be hijacked by overzealous dog lovers, to prove that barking dog regulations cause suicide. No, no, no, not among stable human beings.

Thing is, Pitbulls CAN be bark-trained. Most dogs can. If you are the owner of a barking dog, YOU have a responsibility to have him bark trained. This guy could have KEPT his dog (the article stated that the new policy did not apply to current pets) if he had been more responsible about the noise nuisance that HE chose to bring to that building. As far as the dog being evicted, the owner had nobody to blame but himself. Training would have changed everything. Dog owners, STOP blaming others for complaining about YOUR noisy dog. Train your dog- it’s not hard!

Mozartmelody said,

in January 30th, 2012 at 6:44 am

You stated that all he had to do was to have his dog
“bark trained” “Training would have changed everything”…..How was he supposed to do this, unemployed and no income?

I suspect the whole of the problem was not solely the loss of his dog. As the article stated, he was down
on his luck. Looking at his life with no parents, no family, being raised in an orphanage….I think it had
more to do with…giving up…too many refusals from
job interviews, unable to pay the rent….then the loss of his dog…a sad story all the way around.

He could have given the dog to a no-kill shelter–but the dog was all he had. I think the veterinarian must have told him he had to put the dog down since it
was becoming more aggressive….I think it was more
than this man could take…didn’t sound like he had
much of a support system–or much of anything….again…just a sad story.

zizine said,

in February 2nd, 2012 at 6:36 pm

Often you’ll find, that when you’re down on your luck, the unconditional love of your pets and for your pet(s) will make life tolerable enough, and to keep you going another day in the hope it will be better tomorrow. I’m sorry Nick didn’t wait another day for Rocco! They might both still be here to enjoy another…, and another…

zizine said,

in February 2nd, 2012 at 6:44 pm

And this is for my 4-legged and feathery, and scaly friends! Without you wonderful dogs, cats, bunnies, birdies, yeah…, fishies too…”life sucks and then you die!”