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Tomas Anez Dos Santos toiled in a tiny glade deep in the of Peru Amazon when he noticed sounds approaching through the thick jungle.

He became aware he was encircled, and halted.

“One person was standing, pointing with an projectile,” he recalls. “And somehow he became aware that I was present and I started to run.”

He found himself face to face the Mashco Piro tribe. Over many years, Tomas—dwelling in the modest village of Nueva Oceania—served as practically a local to these wandering individuals, who shun engagement with outsiders.

A recent study by a rights organization claims there are a minimum of 196 of what it calls “isolated tribes” in existence worldwide. The group is believed to be the biggest. The study says 50% of these communities could be eliminated within ten years should administrations neglect to implement more measures to safeguard them.

The report asserts the biggest risks are from timber harvesting, extraction or drilling for crude. Uncontacted groups are exceptionally susceptible to basic illness—consequently, the study notes a threat is posed by exposure with religious missionaries and social media influencers looking for clicks.

Lately, members of the tribe have been appearing to Nueva Oceania with greater frequency, as reported by inhabitants.

Nueva Oceania is a fishing hamlet of a handful of clans, perched high on the edges of the Tauhamanu waterway deep within the Peruvian rainforest, half a day from the nearest town by watercraft.

The area is not classified as a safeguarded zone for remote communities, and deforestation operations work here.

Tomas reports that, sometimes, the sound of industrial tools can be detected continuously, and the Mashco Piro people are observing their woodland disturbed and devastated.

In Nueva Oceania, people report they are conflicted. They are afraid of the Mashco Piro's arrows but they also possess profound admiration for their “relatives” dwelling in the forest and desire to protect them.

“Allow them to live according to their traditions, we are unable to change their way of life. This is why we maintain our space,” explains Tomas.

Inhabitants in Nueva Oceania are concerned about the harm to the community's way of life, the risk of violence and the likelihood that loggers might introduce the Mashco Piro to illnesses they have no immunity to.

While we were in the village, the tribe made their presence felt again. Letitia, a woman with a toddler girl, was in the forest gathering produce when she noticed them.

“We heard calls, sounds from people, many of them. As though it was a whole group calling out,” she informed us.

It was the first time she had come across the group and she ran. Subsequently, her head was persistently pounding from fear.

“Because operate loggers and companies clearing the jungle they're running away, perhaps because of dread and they arrive near us,” she explained. “We are uncertain what their response may be to us. That is the thing that frightens me.”

Two years ago, two loggers were assaulted by the tribe while catching fish. A single person was hit by an projectile to the gut. He recovered, but the other man was found deceased subsequently with nine arrow wounds in his physique.

The Peruvian government follows a policy of non-contact with secluded communities, rendering it forbidden to commence encounters with them.

This approach was first adopted in the neighboring country after decades of advocacy by indigenous rights groups, who observed that initial contact with remote tribes resulted to whole populations being eliminated by sickness, hardship and hunger.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau people in Peru first encountered with the broader society, half of their population succumbed within a few years. During the 1990s, the Muruhanua community faced the identical outcome.

“Remote tribes are highly at risk—epidemiologically, any contact could spread illnesses, and even the most common illnesses may eliminate them,” says an advocate from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “From a societal perspective, any contact or disruption could be highly damaging to their existence and survival as a community.”

For local residents of {