The Not-So-Lost Brazil Tribe

The Intersection
By Sheril Kirshenbaum
Jun 24, 2008 5:02 PMNov 5, 2019 10:23 AM

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Real tribe. Not really lost.

Turns out, the photos were a hoax to call attention to the dangers of the logging industry.

The disclosures have been made by the man behind the pictures, José Carlos Meirelles, 61, one of the handful of sertanistas - experts on indigenous tribes - working for the Brazilian Indian Protection Agency, Funai, which is dedicated to searching out remote tribes and protecting them. In his first interviews since the disclosure of the tribe's existence, Meirelles described how he found the group, detailed how they lived and how he planned the publicity to protect them and other tribes in similar danger of losing the habitat in which they have flourished for hundreds of years.

Regardless, don't take deforestation lightly.

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