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Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a small glade far in the of Peru rainforest when he heard sounds drawing near through the thick jungle.

He became aware he was hemmed in, and halted.

“One person was standing, directing with an projectile,” he states. “Somehow he detected that I was present and I commenced to run.”

He had come encountering the Mashco Piro tribe. For a long time, Tomas—who lives in the modest community of Nueva Oceania—had been virtually a local to these wandering tribe, who reject engagement with outsiders.

A new report issued by a human rights organization states exist at least 196 termed “uncontacted groups” left worldwide. This tribe is believed to be the biggest. The study claims a significant portion of these groups may be decimated within ten years if governments don't do more actions to defend them.

It argues the most significant risks stem from timber harvesting, extraction or drilling for crude. Remote communities are extremely susceptible to basic sickness—consequently, the study says a risk is posed by contact with evangelical missionaries and social media influencers seeking clicks.

Recently, Mashco Piro people have been appearing to Nueva Oceania with greater frequency, as reported by locals.

Nueva Oceania is a fishermen's hamlet of several households, sitting atop on the banks of the Tauhamanu River deep within the Peruvian jungle, 10 hours from the most accessible village by canoe.

The territory is not designated as a preserved reserve for remote communities, and logging companies work here.

According to Tomas that, on occasion, the sound of logging machinery can be detected continuously, and the Mashco Piro people are seeing their jungle disturbed and devastated.

In Nueva Oceania, residents say they are divided. They fear the Mashco Piro's arrows but they hold strong regard for their “brothers” who live in the woodland and want to protect them.

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

Inhabitants in Nueva Oceania are anxious about the harm to the community's way of life, the threat of conflict and the chance that loggers might subject the Mashco Piro to illnesses they have no resistance to.

During a visit in the community, the Mashco Piro made themselves known again. Letitia, a young mother with a two-year-old girl, was in the jungle collecting food when she heard them.

“There were shouting, cries from individuals, many of them. As if there were a large gathering calling out,” she shared with us.

That was the first instance she had met the Mashco Piro and she escaped. Subsequently, her thoughts was persistently throbbing from terror.

“Since operate deforestation crews and operations cutting down the jungle they're running away, maybe out of fear and they come in proximity to us,” she said. “We don't know what their response may be to us. That's what scares me.”

In 2022, two loggers were assaulted by the Mashco Piro while fishing. A single person was hit by an arrow to the gut. He recovered, but the other person was found lifeless subsequently with multiple injuries in his body.

Authorities in Peru follows a strategy of avoiding interaction with isolated people, rendering it prohibited to start interactions with them.

This approach was first adopted in a nearby nation subsequent to prolonged of advocacy by community representatives, who noted that initial contact with isolated people could lead to whole populations being wiped out by disease, hardship and hunger.

In the 1980s, when the Nahau community in the country first encountered with the world outside, half of their population succumbed within a few years. During the 1990s, the Muruhanua people experienced the identical outcome.

“Remote tribes are very susceptible—from a disease perspective, any contact might introduce diseases, and including the most common illnesses might eliminate them,” says Issrail Aquisse from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “Culturally too, any exposure or interference could be very harmful to their life and survival as a group.”

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