Firefighter that killed his dogs to avoid expense of boarding them

[Crabby Appleton]

while on vacation fired by the fire chief.

Hope his bad luck continues.

http://www.wkyc.com/news/state/ohio/news_article.aspx?storyid=117939&catid=23

"COLUMBUS -- An Ohio firefighter sentenced to 90 days in jail for killing his dogs has now lost his fire department job.

Columbus Public Safety Director Mitchell Brown said Thursday that he has decided to terminate 43-year-old David Santuomo on the recommendation of the fire chief.

The firefighter pleaded guilty last month to three misdemeanors, including two animal cruelty counts. Prosecutors say Santuomo tied his two mixed-breed dogs to a pipe in his basement and shot them in December so he wouldn't have to put them up in a kennel while he went on vacation. "

[hlthe2b]

1. I can not even speak to this...

As someone with a beloved doggie girl and who would give up just about anything to keep her healthy and lving a happy, quality life with me as long as possible, the thought of someone so callous just can not be grasped.

[angstlessk]

2. why did he have the dogs??? hell, we took turns sitting in our moving truck

at motels that did not allow animals. We did leave one cat behind, who had adopted a next door neighbor as her family, and we only had one cat carrier and the one we took had claws and had never been outside (except once and he clawed his way onto the roof to seek entrance to the house..husband had to climb onto the roof to rescue him). I feared they would get into a fight and the one without claws would be either killed or maimed on the 4 day trip.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

3. Don't let me anywhere near this pig ---

it would not be pretty. :mad:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

4. Karma has a way -

I knew a man who lived in NYC, a total prick, even his kids and ex-wife would have nothing to do with him. One of his sons died, and he wasn't even invited to the funeral. In fact, he learned of the son's death through friends who's read his obituary in the paper.

But, this guy fancied himself a writer, and when he finally got an agent, and that agent sold his novel to a publisher, he figured he was now big-time and the money would just roll in. He honestly believed that every word he wrote was golden, and when he presented his second novel - he'd written a slew of them through the years - the publisher said they'd buy it, but it needed heavy editing.

This guy objected, refused to let his agent sell the book, told him to shop it around elsewhere. And, little by little, his reputation preceded him, and no one wanted to touch anything he wrote.

The money ran out. Soon he had to give up his apartment in Brooklyn and move into a room in a boarding house in another part of Brooklyn.

There was no prohibition against pets in the rooming house.

He had a cat, a great old cat who'd been with him for years, a real sweetheart who cozied up to everyone who came by.

But this guy had his cat put to sleep because, as he claimed, "I didn't her cooped up."

One day, a few months after he'd moved into the rooming house, he felt ill, called an ambulance, was taken to a hospital, where he died in the ER. Because he had listed his agent as his next of kin, and because he'd transposed two numbers in the agent's phone number, his body stayed in the cooler for a week before the agent showed up to claim it.

He was cremated, at the agent's expense. I don't know what they did with the cremains. I don't care...............................

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

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[Hello_Kitty]

6. Except it's okay to kill unborn children in Iraq from bombs dropped by war planes.

Right, Freeper?

[lpbk2713]

8. I'd call you 'History".

:eyes:

[DebbieCDC]

7. Let's tie him to a pipe and proceed from there

Oh, he could pay for a vacation okay but not care for his dogs?

SOB Mfucker should be locked up in a fucking hole.

[tularetom]

9. They trust us with their lives. They'd do anything for us. And this is how some people treat them.

90 days in jail and the loss of his job is nowhere near enough punishment for this POS.

[sharesunited]

10. Thanks Second Amendment!

You're such a treasured right.

[Feron]

11. If you don't want the dogs..

then at the very least bring them to the pound. It's not ideal, but at least the dogs will have a chance for a better life.

I'm glad he lost his job.

[paulsby]

12. This would be legal in WA state

in WA state, it is legal to kill one's own pet AS LONG AS it is not done in a manner that would cause undue pain. so, as long as he shot them "humanely", it would not be illegal. we had a case like this recently. it's an interesting nuance of the law. one can kill one's pet for no reason AS LONG as one does it a manner that does not cause undue suffering.

[northernlights]

14. he didn't shoot them humanely

The original article about this said he "suspended them from a pipe." As in, hung them. And shot them something like 11 times each.

This is not karma, which is still out there waiting for him. They fired him because so many people in the district wrote to the fire department and told them to *not* come to their house if there was a fire because they were afraid he would harm their animals. They'd rather lose their homes than risk their furkid's lives to that POS.

Human waste. I know what I'd love to do with that filthy scum shithead.

Good news too is now everybody knows who he is, nobody is going to want him around or hire him again. :grr:



edited for typo

[paulsby]

15. you are right

i read the entire article after posting and realized what he did was pretty heinous.

[Chemisse]

18. I didn't think it was illegal anywhere to put down your own pet.

Provided of course the animal did not suffer. I could never do it, but I certainly want to have the right to take a animal to the vet to be put to sleep if it is suffering.

A lot has changed since a wide-eyed Timmy was told by his kind and loving parents that they could not keep Lassie if she was not able to earn her keep around the farm. If pets were not wanted or were no longer useful, they would be taken off and shot, or drowned in a nearby river.

Most of us shudder at such a thought, and people would often abandon a pet rather than kill it. That is why the Humane Society formed, to try and find homes for unwanted animals, and to put the animals to sleep in a humane way when necessary. Now these organizations are moving away from killing ANY of the animals.

More and more we have been applying human principles to our pets, and I think we are going down a slippery slope. At what point does killing a dog become 'murder' and dog owners are expected to spare no expense to keep an old, suffering animal alive? When does a pet owner get charged with neglect when he refuses to pay $3,000 for hip surgery on a dog?

And when does the expression, "You wouldn't even let a DOG suffer like that!" become obsolete as euthanasia becomes as taboo as it is to humans?

[northernlights]

20. this wasn't "putting down" a suffering pet

He essentially tortured them. Hung them from a pipe and shot them repeatedly. Huge, huge difference.

And we're a long, long way from charging someone with neglect because they can't afford $3,000 hip surgery.

[Chemisse]

21. Yeah I saw that - that guy is a sick pig

But I really don't think we are that far off from having as much legal responsibility for our pets as for our children. That is certainly the way it is headed.

[chatnoir]

22. He didn't put them down

He killed them after tying them to pipes in the basement b/c he couldn't be bothered to pay to board them while he and his gf were away on a cruise.

He bragged to co-workers about what he did when he returned from vacay. It was they who contacted authorities.

Sick $%^&.

[chatnoir]

13. 90 days in jail and fired

is not enough for this scoiopathic ass.

[LWolf]

16. What the FUCK is wrong with my species?

Kitten in the oven, dogs shot for a vacation, dogs bred and raised to kill each other for the entertainment and enrichment of their "owners..."

90 days isn't long enough, and I hope no one hires him for a public service job, ever again.

Meanwhile, there was this thread, earlier, to remind us of the role dogs can play in our lives, if we let them:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6080663

I think I'll go snuggle with my dog for awhile, despite the too-hot summer temps.

[Obamanaut]

17. An excerpt from a Dean Koontz book I just finished has this to say

about dogs:


Excerpt from “The Darkest Evening of the Year” by Dean Koontz

<snip>
“Dogs’ lives are short, too short, but you know that going in. You know the pain is coming, you’re going to lose a dog, and there’s going to be great anguish, so you live fully in the moment with her, never fail to share her joy or delight in her innocence, because you can’t support the illusion that a dog can be you lifelong companion. There’s such beauty in the hard honesty of that, in accepting and giving love while always aware it comes with an unbearable price. Maybe loving dogs is a way we do penance for all the other illusions we allow ourselves and for the mistakes we make because of those illusions.” <end of excerpt>

I read this while sitting with Rusty, a cocker/wire haired terrier mix, asleep on the couch beside me. Somehow or other a speck got in my eye.

This was the second time during the reading of this book, a mystery, that I was afflicted with eye specks. Edited to add that the first eye-speckery was a passage about dogs also.

I DO NOT wish the former fire-fighter well.

[Chemisse]

19. What a nice excerpt.

That is exactly how I feel about the few short years I have with my precious girl, a sweet and cuddly English Mastiff.