Saved by Coyotes: The Extraordinary Story of Aajonus Vonderplanitz

I first saw Aajonus Vonderplanitz on The Doctors TV show many years ago. He was talking about how eating raw foods had changed his life. Onstage, he cracked an egg and drank it straight from the shell. The hosts made fun of him, and the audience laughed and cringed. I was curious. I wanted to know more.

In a later interview, Aajonus described a life marked by illness and hardship. He said he had been diagnosed with serious conditions, including cancer, and that surgery and treatment left him weak and in constant pain. He also said doctors had warned him that, because of an operation on his vagus nerve, he couldn’t properly digest food and could become seriously ill from eating raw foods.

Aajonus said his health began to improve after a young singer named Steve Flanigan introduced him to raw carrot juice and raw milk. He spent years studying nutrition and following different raw-food diets, including a long period as a vegan. But, by his account, his health declined again.

Searching for answers, he traveled and lived with Indigenous communities and in Alaska. He said the people he met encouraged him to eat raw meat. He was afraid of parasites and illness, and resisted the idea.

Eventually, desperate and with the loss of hope, Aajonus went alone to the mountains to fast himself to death. About a week into it and into the evening, he heard the pack of coyotes that lived near his camp kill a rabbit, and one of them dropped it at his feet.

A dialogue entered his mind about his uncle warning him as a child that wild rabbit could kill him if it wasn’t cooked thoroughly. There should be no pink meat. Aajonus thought, “Hey, I wonder if the coyotes are trying to help him die?” The rabbit looked like the Easter Bunny, “all smooshy,” as he put it. He had to force himself to eat it. At first, he struggled, but after several bites, he said it began to taste good. The coyotes shared what remained and left.

Aajonus expected to die, but he woke the next morning still alive. In the days that followed, he decided the people who had urged him to try raw meat hadn’t been trying to harm him after all. He began hunting and eating whatever he could find. The first thing he caught was a snake. He said it was bony and didn’t taste like chicken—it tasted more like raw fish.
Later, he worked on farms in exchange for food, including raw milk, butter, eggs, and meat. He said he gained weight and strength, eventually looking like a smaller version of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

That experience became the foundation of the Primal Diet, which Aajonus promoted through books, talks, and interviews. His story is unusual and compelling, especially the account of the coyotes and the rabbit.

You can hear Aajonus tell the story in The Primal Diet – Raw Meat and Fat.