'Lost tribe' discovered on Brazil-Peru border
Friday, 30 May 2008 11:08
The pictures, which show red-daubed Indians wielding bows and arrows, were taken during flights over the remotest parts of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil's Acre state
One of the world's last 'uncontacted' tribes has been photographed from the air by the Brazilian government on its border with Peru.
The pictures, which show red-daubed Indians wielding bows and arrows, were taken during flights over the remotest parts of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil's Acre state.
The warriors had a "strong and healthy appearance", a statement said.
 | Funai, the Brazilian government's Indian affairs department, said it took the photos to prove to the world that uncontacted tribes did exist.
"We did the overflight to show their houses, to show they are there, to show they exist," said Funai's Jose Carlos dos Reis Meirelles Junior.
"This is very important because there are some who doubt their existence."
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Mr Meirelles said the uncontacted tribe, one of 100 across the world – the majority of which are in Peru or Brazil, was in severe danger from illegal logging in Peru.
He accused the Peruvian loggers of committing a "monumental crime" against the natural world and providing "further testimony to the complete irrationality with which we, the 'civilised' ones, treat the world".
 | Survival International, a UK-based organisation supporting tribal people's rights, said tribes across the world were in "grave danger" of being forced off their land, being killed or decimated by disease.
"These pictures are further evidence that uncontacted tribes really do exist," said its director Stephen Corry.
"The world needs to wake up to this, and ensure that their territory is protected in accordance with international law. Otherwise, they will soon be made extinct."
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