A man belonging to the only uncontacted tribe in South America outside the Amazon basin has been sighted near a region targeted for deforestation by Brazilian cattle-ranchers. The information was divulgated by Survival. When spotted, the man hid behind a tree, and later fled. The next day an abandoned camp, a clay dish, and game ready for cooking were found nearby.
The man is one of an unknown number of uncontacted Ayoreo-Totobiegosode Indians living in the dry forests of northern Paraguay. The Totobiegosode have lost huge swathes of their land in recent years to cattle-ranchers.
The man was seen to the south of the area owned by the Brazilian firm Yaguarete Pora S.A. The company was already fined $16,000 - 10,500 by the Paraguayan authorities for concealing the existence of the Totobiegosode in the area where it was given a licence to work.
In a letter to the Paraguayan government about the sighting, already-contacted Totobiegosode leaders said, "We are very concerned about [our relatives still in the forest]. They're threatened by the deforestation in that region.