Found Deceased Spain - Esther Dingley, from UK, missing in the Pyrenees, November 2020 #4

[RickshawFan]

“They” is not the right word IMO There was no “they” in the final weeks. There was what Esther wanted to do...fun, fun, fun everyday.

Therein lies the simplest solution to this mystery.

I'm not sure ED was after "fun, fun, fun". She may have just been after "nothing, nothing, nothing" because she couldn't make decisions.

It doesn't even seem as though this Sauvegarde trip was a fun thing. It seems like just a "nothing", as though she can't really "get into" it. And that's why it's not clear what she was doing, or that she was looking forward to the loop. That's not fun; that's an embrace of nothing when you have nothing better to do.

 

[stmarysmead]

I'm not sure ED was after "fun, fun, fun". She may have just been after "nothing, nothing, nothing" because she couldn't make decisions.

It doesn't even seem as though this Sauvegarde trip was a fun thing. It seems like just a "nothing", as though she can't really "get into" it. And that's why it's not clear what she was doing, or that she was looking forward to the loop. That's not fun; that's an embrace of nothing when you have nothing better to do.

Excellent correction. I agree.

 

[stmarysmead]

I think you can get a lot of insight into a person by the way they treat their pets.

My husband left the house by his study door the other day. The old dog did n0t see him leave. He became distressed, barking, walking through the house, even up the stairs with his arthritic legs. He is very devoted, doing his duty even with pain.

It took quite an effort to get him back downstairs, but we made it, old dog and I. I walked through all the rooms with my hand on his head, leading him as he looked for my husband, till he was satisfied. He laid down by the fire then and stayed by my side.

How do we show our appreciation for such devotion? To show them our devotion in return..no matter if they are sick, no longer cute, no longer useful to us for entertainment.

Commitment.

I wonder how the decision was made to just disperse all the dogs. I wonder if they all have new homes. As pointed out, there are several unaccounted for.

 

[FrostOwl]

I think you can get a lot of insight into a person by the way they treat their pets.

My husband left the house by his study door the other day. The old dog did n0t see him leave. He became distressed, barking, walking through the house, even up the stairs with his arthritic legs. He is very devoted, doing his duty even with pain.

It took quite an effort to get him back downstairs, but we made it, old dog and I. I walked through all the rooms with my hand on his head, leading him as he looked for my husband, till he was satisfied. He laid down by the fire then and stayed by my side.

How do we show our appreciation for such devotion? To show them our devotion in return..no matter if they are sick, no longer cute, no longer useful to us for entertainment.

Commitment.

I wonder how the decision was made to just disperse all the dogs. I wonder if they all have new homes. As pointed out, there are several unaccounted for.

I wonder if the decision to leave the dogs in England has to do with Brexit, as it will become more problematic/probably also more expensive, to take pets with you when going to the EU and/or back to the UK. If they hadn't decided yet, or didn't know where they were going to be after January 1 (or March 31), if they would be able to stay within the EU or not, perhaps they wanted to make sure that the dogs were safe in the UK.
Brexit: What will happen to pet passports after transition ends?

 

[stmarysmead]

From your link:


UK citizens living in the EU
If you live in the EU and have a pet passport issued by an EU member state, you will be able to use it to bring your pet to the UK after 2020.

You will be able to return to the EU with the EU-issued pet passport as well.

 

[FrostOwl]

From your link:


UK citizens living in the EU
If you live in the EU and have a pet passport issued by an EU member state, you will be able to use it to bring your pet to the UK after 2020.

You will be able to return to the EU with the EU-issued pet passport as well.

Yes, but do they have an EU pet passport, and how long is it valid? There is also the animal health certificate, as well as the GB pet health certificate, and to get those, they would need a visit to a vet to be issued, and how much would that cost with five dogs? Add to that the tape worm treatment, so there would likely be an additional vet cost if they were going back after January 1, 2021 with the dogs. Would the income from the books be able to cover it? They would not be able to bring more than five dogs into the UK.
Pet travel: to and from Great Britain

 

[stmarysmead]

Yes, but do they have an EU pet passport, and how long is it valid? There is also the animal health certificate, as well as the GB pet health certificate, and those would need a visit to a vet to be issued, and how much would that cost with five dogs? Add to that the tape worm treatment, so there would likely be an additional vet cost if they were going back after January 1, 2021 with the dogs. Would the income from the books be able to cover it?
Pet travel: to and from Great Britain

‘I would hope, having seen all the expensive equipment that Esther has for herself for her adventures that they would see to it that their dogs had proper health care.

 

[ZaZara]

Yes, but do they have an EU pet passport, and how long is it valid? There is also the animal health certificate, as well as the GB pet health certificate, and to get those, they would need a visit to a vet to be issued, and how much would that cost with five dogs? Add to that the tape worm treatment, so there would likely be an additional vet cost if they were going back after January 1, 2021 with the dogs. Would the income from the books be able to cover it? They would not be able to bring more than five dogs into the UK.
Pet travel: to and from Great Britain

The EU pet passport is valid for life.
The vaccinations that are mentioned in the passport should be up to date according to schedule.
Tape worm treatment for 5 small dogs would be around 20 euros, plus the costs of the vet.
Dan and Esther might be able to each bring 5 dogs into the UK.

Since it was their original plan to rehome the pups, leaving their last two dogs with family was a win-win. The family had company during lock down and Esther and Dan were able to take long hikes in the Alps.

 

[stmarysmead]

IMO This abandonment of the dogs, put in contrast to the “Devoted Dog Lover” persona portrayed to the reader in the books might IMO be a clue to the theory of a voluntary disappearance.

Adoring statements about the dogs, adoring statements about Dan...but if either become an obstacle to Esther’s professed need of self care...IMO...I’m beginning to think it might not be hard for her at all to walk away. We see a beautiful smile, we read words crafted to monetize the dogs. But the dogs have been off-loaded.

The main obstacle to the voluntary disappearance is that IMO, she would need help. A few weeks time to form a relationship where someone would participate in helping one disappear seems a stretch. Financially, as Dan points out, she has no available resources.

And, in fairness, if Esther wanted a three month Gad-about this Pandemic summer, it might have been Dan who asked her to choose. And the dogs were then dispersed.

 

[stmarysmead]

The EU pet passport is valid for life.
The vaccinations that are mentioned in the passport should be up to date according to schedule.
Tape worm treatment for 5 small dogs would be around 20 euros, plus the costs of the vet.
Dan and Esther might be able to each bring 5 dogs into the UK.

Since it was their original plan to rehome the pups, leaving their last two dogs with family was a win-win. The family had company during lock down and Esther and Dan were able to take long hikes in the Alps.

Was there an “original plan to rehome the dogs?” I’ve missed that. Could you supply the link so I can read more about it?

When did they make this plan? They certainly have had at least 5 of them together for quite awhile. Interestingly, on a Nov FB post Esther suggests the dog books would be helpful for foster children to deal with “abandonment’ issues. “Lovely Leela finds a family.”...is the title of the book.

Esther writes that the book ‘deals with abandonment issues and not just of dogs” and says a reader suggested the books would be helpful for foster children. I suppose giving hope of finding a loving family.

And yet in reality the dogs themselves have all been given away!!! I hope n0ne of the children would ask where the puppies are now....

 

[FrostOwl]

<snip>
Since it was their original plan to rehome the pups, leaving their last two dogs with family was a win-win. The family had company during lock down and Esther and Dan were able to take long hikes in the Alps.

Where the dogs strays/street dogs they had rescued, or had they bought them as puppies? If rescues, perhaps they/she planned to do the same again with other dogs, to give them new homes.

 

[otto]

Where the dogs strays/street dogs they had rescued, or had they bought them as puppies? If rescues, perhaps they/she planned to do the same again with other dogs, to give them new homes.

Going from memory - I think they adopted a stray who then had puppies, so they ended up with 5 dogs.

 

[stmarysmead]

Where the dogs strays/street dogs they had rescued, or had they bought them as puppies? If rescues, perhaps they/she planned to do the same again with other dogs, to give them new homes.

From what I can piece together Leela was a street dog they adopted, only to,find out she was pregnant. This was several years ago. Seven pups were born...there’s a photo. Two of the puppies were given away fairly soon. They kept 5. In May of this year, Esther mentions that George has gone to her parents. Many photos and much love posted about the remaining 4.


Later another dog is “reunited” with George. In November, Esther posts that “f0r one reason or another” she is now separated from these dogs.

Actually the article in the Olive Press has the pictures and story.

PUPPY LOVE: Meet the five pooches travelling through Spain in a second-hand motorhome - Olive Press News Spain

 

[Onlinesleuth]

I’m sure the authorities have checked all this out, if they suspect ED disappeared of her own accord... ie she was known to be very health conscious; does this mean she had regular health checks while in France? What do the medical records show re depression? Any medication required? How was her eyesight? Did she use contact lenses? If so, did she have spares with her, and to cover her extended hiking period? Did she have medication to cover the period she was away? Was she reliant on it? These tiny details add up to how she may have been feeling on a day to day basis, and her general mental/emotional/physical fitness.

 

[Onlinesleuth]

On the subject of ED and her enquiry in the supermarket re the price of chia seeds... I don’t know how many people on this forum have lived in France, but even the very basics can be exorbitantly expensive ie health foods, toiletries, skincare can be 3 or 4 times the price of similar in the UK. It’s astonishing. Pet care is similarly more expensive than one would expect... everything from vet appointments through to dog food. So, while living in a campervan sounds like a budget-efficient option, the only costs saved are on accommodation. Fuel is expensive, hiking equipment is expensive, food is expensive... their expenses in total probably equalled what they would have spent at home inc the mortgage. I’m talking from experience, btw. The couple had a tendency to ‘wing it’ as well, which they mentioned in their own posts... hiking alone in late November in high mountain territory where there are bears, packs of wolves, poisonous snakes, armed hunters (many accounts of dramatic ‘near misses’ in the Pyrenees recently, just google it), the threat of snow storms... to me this all seems foolhardy, bordering on insanity. Add to that, hitchhiking as a lone female... a disaster waiting to happen IMHO.

 

[stmarysmead]

Their 3 month trek through Europe this summer was technically legal under the various Lockdown restrictions, though, wasn’t it?

 

[stmarysmead]

On the subject of ED and her enquiry in the supermarket re the price of chia seeds... I don’t know how many people on this forum have lived in France, but even the very basics can be exorbitantly expensive ie health foods, toiletries, skincare can be 3 or 4 times the price of similar in the UK. It’s astonishing. Pet care is similarly more expensive than one would expect... everything from vet appointments through to dog food. So, while living in a campervan sounds like a budget-efficient option, the only costs saved are on accommodation. Fuel is expensive, hiking equipment is expensive, food is expensive... their expenses in total probably equalled what they would have spent at home inc the mortgage. I’m talking from experience, btw. The couple had a tendency to ‘wing it’ as well, which they mentioned in their own posts... hiking alone in late November in high mountain territory where there are bears, packs of wolves, poisonous snakes, armed hunters (many accounts of dramatic ‘near misses’ in the Pyrenees recently, just google it), the threat of snow storms... to me this all seems foolhardy, bordering on insanity. Add to that, hitchhiking as a lone female... a disaster waiting to happen IMHO.

Excellent post.

 

[Onlinesleuth]

Their 3 month trek through Europe this summer was technically legal under the various Lockdown restrictions, though, wasn’t it?

Probably, but what’s your point?

It was complete lockdown in France at the time ED went missing and by law nobody was allowed leave their home, never mind hitchhike/hike/climb...

 

[Grouse]

To be fair they did a 3 month / 1000 mile trek across the Alps finishing in October, I'm sure they welcomed a few weeks rest after that! The opportunity to live in a proper house - with a proper bathroom and kitchen and bedroom - must have been very tempting. Perhaps more so for Dan, as it turns out, but once you've committed to house-sitting you can't exactly up and leave.

From the BBC interview which was fairly recent (ie while they were apart during ED's solo trip) Van life: Durham couple's six years on the road (and counting)

"We've got the best of both worlds, really," Esther says. "We get a home bug and a travel bug. Travelling takes you to some beautiful places but it feels a bit unsettled at times, so then we house-sit somewhere to get a bit of stability." BBM

 

[stmarysmead]

Probably, but what’s your point?

It was complete lockdown in France at the time ED went missing and by law nobody was allowed leave their home, never mind hitchhike/hike/climb...

Just filling in some blanks about this couple as we assess this case. I thought perhaps because they chose to be in the high mountains that there was some legal exemption. But yet, if they were disregarding laws that were affecting everyone else, they still posted about it quite openly on FB.

Interesting....supports, in a way, your post that they were risk-takers.