Missing Explorer Who Once Ate His Dog to Survive Seen Alive

In October he tweeted "don't try to rescue me, please," as he set off for the wilds of Papua New Guinea in hopes of reconnecting with the isolated Yaifo tribe. Now a rescue is exactly what UK explorer Benedict Allen needs. His family reported him missing when the 57-year-old was a no-show for his scheduled flight out of the country, but the BBC reports he's been seen alive near a remote airstrip in the country that isn't accessible by road. BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner tweeted that Allen "is not out of danger yet. He's marooned at an airstrip after tribal fighting cut off all the road bridges" and says he's "awaiting air evac."

While the situation may still be tenuous, the BBC notes Allen has gone to extremes in the past to survive: He once ate his own dog in order to do so. In a 2011 interview with the Guardian he recounted the incident, which happened during a months-long trip through the Brazilian rainforest. He said that when he got home, "the local paper asked me about the trip. I let slip about the dog and before I knew it ... my sorry tale became a two-page spread in the Daily Mail. The RSPCA came round with a sack of hate mail. I often wonder whether what happened was a mistake or not; obviously it kept me alive but it has also haunted me. In a way it has driven me in my career, fueling my desire to understand why I had survived. But it has always been something I've wanted to rectify." (This woman tweeted something eerie before being killed on her Amazon trek.)