An NGO asked the European Union Tuesday to not buy Paraguay beef in retaliation for cattle ranching in an indigenous area there.

Tribal-rights group Survival called on the European Commission to stop importing beef from the South American country in response to what it called indiscriminate logging that clears space for cattle.

The territory in question concerns some 4,000 hectares (9,885 acres) being logged by a Brazilian company in Paraguay's "Chaco" area, some 600 kilometers (370 miles) northwest of Asuncion, where the indigenous Ayoreo people of the Totobiegosode community live.

Last week the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) certified Paraguay as free of foot-and-mouth disease. The country had not exported beef to the European Union in two years.

Some of the Ayoreos have never had contact with outsiders, Survival said of the indigenous group.

According to the organization, the Brazilian firm that owns the land, Yaguarete Pora, said it plans to convert part of the property into a wildlife corridor, but the rest will be used for farming purposes.