Leave isolated Amazon natives alone, Peru says [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

Leave isolated Amazon natives alone, Peru says
By Agence France-Presse
Wednesday, February 1, 2012 0:44 EST

Peruvian officials on Tuesday urged outsiders to stay away from isolated Amazon basin rainforest natives after pictures of “uncontacted” tribe members were published online.

Mariela Huacchillo with the Peru’s office for Natural Protected Areas (SERNANP) told AFP that even indirect contact with the indigenous people could spread deadly viruses that do not exist in the region. The natives could also be hostile, she warned.

Huacchillo urged outsiders “to never attempt to enter in contact with these (isolated) communities,” whose people “are trying to remain apart from the outside world.”

The pictures, published on the website of pro-native NGO Survival International, shows a family of “uncontacted” Mascho-Piro people in the Manu National Park, in remote southeastern Peru on the border with Brazil.

More:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/01/leave-isolated-amazon-natives-alone-peru-says/