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A man named Tomas Anez Dos Santos toiled in a tiny glade far in the of Peru rainforest when he heard sounds coming closer through the dense woodland.

It dawned on him that he stood surrounded, and froze.

“One was standing, aiming using an bow and arrow,” he recalls. “And somehow he detected that I was present and I began to run.”

He ended up encountering the Mashco Piro tribe. Over many years, Tomas—residing in the small community of Nueva Oceania—had been virtually a neighbor to these wandering tribe, who avoid engagement with strangers.

A recent report by a human rights organization indicates exist a minimum of 196 described as “uncontacted groups” remaining in the world. The Mashco Piro is believed to be the biggest. It says a significant portion of these tribes might be decimated within ten years should administrations neglect to implement more actions to defend them.

It argues the biggest risks come from timber harvesting, digging or exploration for oil. Uncontacted groups are extremely susceptible to basic disease—as such, it states a threat is posed by interaction with evangelical missionaries and online personalities seeking attention.

Recently, Mashco Piro people have been venturing to Nueva Oceania more and more, according to locals.

This settlement is a fishing community of seven or eight families, sitting high on the edges of the Tauhamanu waterway deep within the Peruvian Amazon, half a day from the closest settlement by boat.

The area is not designated as a preserved reserve for isolated tribes, and timber firms function here.

Tomas says that, at times, the sound of logging machinery can be noticed continuously, and the Mashco Piro people are observing their forest disturbed and devastated.

In Nueva Oceania, people say they are divided. They are afraid of the tribal weapons but they also possess deep regard for their “kin” who live in the jungle and desire to protect them.

“Allow them to live as they live, we are unable to modify their traditions. This is why we maintain our distance,” says Tomas.

Inhabitants in Nueva Oceania are anxious about the destruction to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the danger of violence and the possibility that loggers might introduce the Mashco Piro to diseases they have no resistance to.

While we were in the settlement, the Mashco Piro made themselves known again. A young mother, a young mother with a young girl, was in the forest gathering food when she noticed them.

“We heard calls, shouts from people, numerous of them. As though it was a whole group shouting,” she shared with us.

This marked the first time she had encountered the group and she fled. Subsequently, her thoughts was still pounding from terror.

“As operate timber workers and companies destroying the woodland they're running away, maybe out of fear and they arrive in proximity to us,” she explained. “It is unclear how they will behave towards us. That is the thing that scares me.”

Two years ago, a pair of timber workers were attacked by the Mashco Piro while catching fish. One was wounded by an bow to the gut. He survived, but the other man was located dead days later with multiple injuries in his frame.

Authorities in Peru has a approach of no engagement with secluded communities, rendering it illegal to start interactions with them.

The policy began in the neighboring country subsequent to prolonged of campaigning by tribal advocacy organizations, who noted that early exposure with secluded communities lead to entire communities being wiped out by illness, hardship and hunger.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau tribe in Peru first encountered with the broader society, 50% of their people died within a short period. In the 1990s, the Muruhanua people faced the identical outcome.

“Secluded communities are extremely vulnerable—in terms of health, any exposure might transmit illnesses, and even the most common illnesses may decimate them,” says an advocate from a tribal support group. “In cultural terms, any contact or intrusion may be very harmful to their existence and health as a society.”

For local residents of {