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The resident Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a small glade deep in the Peruvian rainforest when he heard sounds coming closer through the dense jungle.

It dawned on him that he had been encircled, and stood still.

“One person was standing, directing with an bow and arrow,” he recalls. “Somehow he detected that I was present and I started to run.”

He had come face to face the Mashco Piro. For a long time, Tomas—residing in the small settlement of Nueva Oceania—was virtually a neighbour to these wandering tribe, who reject interaction with foreigners.

A recent document from a human rights group indicates exist a minimum of 196 described as “uncontacted groups” left worldwide. The group is considered to be the most numerous. It says half of these groups could be wiped out in the next decade if governments fail to take additional to protect them.

It argues the biggest risks stem from deforestation, mining or drilling for crude. Uncontacted groups are extremely susceptible to basic disease—consequently, the study notes a danger is presented by interaction with evangelical missionaries and online personalities seeking engagement.

In recent times, Mashco Piro people have been venturing to Nueva Oceania increasingly, as reported by inhabitants.

The village is a fishermen's hamlet of a handful of households, sitting atop on the shores of the Tauhamanu waterway deep within the of Peru rainforest, half a day from the closest village by boat.

This region is not classified as a preserved reserve for isolated tribes, and timber firms operate here.

According to Tomas that, sometimes, the sound of logging machinery can be detected day and night, and the community are witnessing their woodland damaged and destroyed.

In Nueva Oceania, people say they are conflicted. They dread the tribal weapons but they also have strong regard for their “brothers” who live in the forest and wish to defend them.

“Allow them to live according to their traditions, we can't modify their way of life. This is why we keep our separation,” explains Tomas.

Inhabitants in Nueva Oceania are anxious about the harm to the tribe's survival, the danger of aggression and the likelihood that timber workers might introduce the Mashco Piro to sicknesses they have no resistance to.

At the time in the village, the Mashco Piro made their presence felt again. A young mother, a young mother with a two-year-old daughter, was in the forest collecting food when she detected them.

“We detected calls, cries from others, many of them. Like there were a whole group yelling,” she shared with us.

It was the first instance she had met the group and she ran. An hour later, her mind was persistently racing from anxiety.

“Since exist loggers and companies destroying the forest they're running away, perhaps because of dread and they end up in proximity to us,” she explained. “It is unclear how they will behave with us. That's what scares me.”

Recently, two individuals were confronted by the group while catching fish. A single person was hit by an projectile to the abdomen. He lived, but the second individual was discovered deceased days later with nine arrow wounds in his physique.

Authorities in Peru follows a policy of no engagement with secluded communities, making it forbidden to start encounters with them.

The strategy originated in Brazil after decades of campaigning by community representatives, who noted that initial contact with remote tribes lead to whole populations being decimated by disease, destitution and malnutrition.

During the 1980s, when the Nahau community in Peru first encountered with the world outside, 50% of their people perished within a matter of years. A decade later, the Muruhanua people suffered the similar destiny.

“Isolated indigenous peoples are highly vulnerable—epidemiologically, any exposure could spread illnesses, and even the most common illnesses might eliminate them,” explains Issrail Aquisse from a local advocacy organization. “From a societal perspective, any contact or interference can be very harmful to their life and health as a community.”

For local residents of {