Leave Uncontacted Amazonian Indian Tribe Alone

by Heather

The year is 2008, but in some parts of the world life is a lot different than the technology driven society that we’re accustomed to. This is proven by recently published photos of an “uncontacted tribe” that lives in grass huts under the cover of Brazil’s Amazon Forest.

Ancient Warriors and modern man collide as these warriors take aim at photographers

When confronted, the tribe covered in red and black pigment shot arrows at the plane that photographed them.

Like the Arawak, this tribe is threatened (in more ways than one) by the arrival of modern man. These remote tribes are already threatened by illegal logging and deforestation taking place in the Amazon basin, ruining their habitat.

Further exposure to people ‘not of the jungle’ is likely to mean the end for this tribe, as they haven’t been exposed to diseases of today’s society. Through their interconnection with the planet, they’ve likely built up immunities (and possibly cures) for diseases such as malaria and illnesses prone to the tribe.

Miriam Ross with the Indian rights group Survival International said:

“First contact is often completely catastrophic for ‘uncontacted’ tribes. It’s not unusual for 50 percent of the tribe to die in months after first contact. They don’t generally have immunity to diseases common to outside society. Colds and flu that aren’t usually fatal to us can completely wipe them out.”

Despite our curiosity, we should respect these people’s right to live in a world that they’ve existed and thrived in for the test of time. We have no right to kill them off for the pursuit of more logs and eventual destruction of ALL of our environment.

We do so at our own peril.