Background
Rasmussen was born in London but moved to Zimbabwe with his parents when he was eleven years old where he attended Falcon College.
Rasmussen was born in London but moved to Zimbabwe with his parents when he was eleven years old where he attended Falcon College.
This was followed by a spell in the merchant navy. In 1988 Joshua Ginsberg offered him a job observing animals in Hwange National Park. He established the Painted Dog Conservation project in 2002.
In 2003 he was involved in a light plane crash which left him severely injured and alone in the African bush.
He survived and was eventually rescued. He almost lost his feet but doctors saved them.
He is 3 inches shorter now. The story of his survival is featured in season one of I Shouldn"t Be Alive, a documentary series broadcast on the Discovery Channel in the United States in an episode entitled "Jaws of Death".
In the United Kingdom it was broadcast as "Thrown to the Lions" on Channel 4 where the series is called Alive.