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The resident Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a tiny open space within in the of Peru rainforest when he heard sounds drawing near through the lush woodland.

He realized that he had been hemmed in, and froze.

“A single individual positioned, pointing using an bow and arrow,” he recalls. “Somehow he noticed I was here and I began to flee.”

He had come face to face the Mashco Piro. For a long time, Tomas—dwelling in the modest community of Nueva Oceania—had been almost a neighbor to these wandering tribe, who shun interaction with strangers.

An updated document from a human rights group claims there are at least 196 termed “uncontacted groups” remaining globally. The Mashco Piro is thought to be the most numerous. It claims a significant portion of these groups may be wiped out in the next decade unless authorities don't do additional to protect them.

It argues the greatest risks stem from timber harvesting, extraction or drilling for crude. Remote communities are highly at risk to basic illness—therefore, the study says a threat is posed by exposure with proselytizers and digital content creators looking for attention.

Lately, members of the tribe have been venturing to Nueva Oceania increasingly, as reported by inhabitants.

This settlement is a fishing village of several clans, perched atop on the shores of the Tauhamanu River in the center of the Peruvian rainforest, a ten-hour journey from the nearest town by watercraft.

The area is not recognised as a preserved zone for isolated tribes, and timber firms work here.

According to Tomas that, on occasion, the sound of logging machinery can be noticed continuously, and the tribe members are witnessing their forest damaged and destroyed.

In Nueva Oceania, residents say they are conflicted. They fear the Mashco Piro's arrows but they also have profound respect for their “relatives” residing in the woodland and want to defend them.

“Let them live in their own way, we can't change their way of life. That's why we keep our space,” states Tomas.

Inhabitants in Nueva Oceania are worried about the harm to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the danger of violence and the likelihood that deforestation crews might expose the tribe to sicknesses they have no immunity to.

During a visit in the village, the tribe made themselves known again. Letitia Rodriguez Lopez, a resident with a young girl, was in the woodland collecting produce when she noticed them.

“We detected cries, cries from individuals, a large number of them. As though it was a large gathering calling out,” she told us.

That was the first instance she had encountered the Mashco Piro and she ran. Subsequently, her thoughts was continually throbbing from fear.

“As operate timber workers and firms cutting down the woodland they are fleeing, maybe because of dread and they arrive close to us,” she explained. “We don't know how they will behave with us. That's what frightens me.”

Two years ago, a pair of timber workers were assaulted by the group while catching fish. A single person was struck by an projectile to the abdomen. He recovered, but the other person was found dead days later with nine injuries in his frame.

The Peruvian government has a approach of non-contact with isolated people, making it illegal to initiate encounters with them.

This approach was first adopted in a nearby nation after decades of campaigning by tribal advocacy organizations, who noted that first exposure with isolated people resulted to entire groups being decimated by disease, poverty and hunger.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau community in Peru first encountered with the broader society, 50% of their people perished within a matter of years. A decade later, the Muruhanua tribe suffered the identical outcome.

“Secluded communities are very vulnerable—in terms of health, any interaction could spread sicknesses, and even the simplest ones may decimate them,” explains a representative from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “From a societal perspective, any interaction or disruption can be extremely detrimental to their life and health as a group.”

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