A single case of the common cold can wipe out an entire tribe.
Watch this unmissable footage from a BBC film crew of an uncontacted Amazon tribe in Brazil was released today on Survival International. The Huffington Post reports:
Worldwide attention has turned to the Peru-Brazil border where uncontacted Indians live, and the South American countries are finally feeling the pressure to protect them.
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Illegal loggers have entered the Peru side, forcing the Indians into Brazil. Jose Carlos Meirelles, a member of the Indian Affairs Dept. in Brazil, is responsible for monitoring the land and proving that the tribe exists
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Besides the usual dangers of a dangerous clashes with the loggers and oil companies, any contact with the outside world could be devastating. According to the film's narrator, Gillian Anderson, violence is not the only thing that is threatening the tribe. Viruses like the common cold can kill them and even wipe the tribes out completely.
There is something so beautiful and harmonious about the footage. Peru's government has suggested uncontacted tribes don't exist and pressure is mounting for the Peruvian President Garcia to protect these uncontacted tribes. Go to uncontactedtribes.org to sign the petition.