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The resident Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a small open space far in the Peruvian Amazon when he heard sounds drawing near through the dense woodland.

It dawned on him he was surrounded, and halted.

“One stood, aiming using an bow and arrow,” he recalls. “And somehow he detected of my presence and I began to flee.”

He ended up face to face members of the Mashco Piro. For a long time, Tomas—who lives in the modest village of Nueva Oceania—served as practically a neighbour to these nomadic individuals, who reject contact with outsiders.

A new document from a advocacy organization claims there are at least 196 of what it calls “isolated tribes” left worldwide. The group is thought to be the most numerous. The study says half of these communities could be decimated within ten years unless authorities fail to take more to protect them.

It claims the greatest dangers stem from deforestation, digging or drilling for crude. Uncontacted groups are highly vulnerable to basic illness—therefore, the study says a threat is posed by interaction with proselytizers and digital content creators looking for attention.

Recently, members of the tribe have been coming to Nueva Oceania with greater frequency, based on accounts from residents.

This settlement is a angling village of several households, located atop on the shores of the local river in the heart of the of Peru rainforest, half a day from the most accessible town by canoe.

This region is not recognised as a preserved zone for remote communities, and timber firms operate here.

According to Tomas that, at times, the racket of heavy equipment can be noticed day and night, and the community are seeing their forest damaged and ruined.

In Nueva Oceania, people report they are conflicted. They dread the tribal weapons but they also possess profound respect for their “relatives” dwelling in the woodland and desire to safeguard them.

“Permit them to live in their own way, we are unable to alter their way of life. That's why we preserve our distance,” states Tomas.

The people in Nueva Oceania are worried about the harm to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the danger of aggression and the chance that loggers might introduce the Mashco Piro to illnesses they have no resistance to.

During a visit in the village, the group made themselves known again. Letitia, a resident with a toddler daughter, was in the jungle gathering fruit when she detected them.

“We detected cries, cries from people, many of them. As though there were a whole group calling out,” she shared with us.

That was the first time she had encountered the Mashco Piro and she ran. Subsequently, her mind was continually racing from terror.

“Because there are deforestation crews and operations cutting down the jungle they are escaping, perhaps out of fear and they end up close to us,” she stated. “It is unclear how they might react towards us. This is what frightens me.”

Two years ago, a pair of timber workers were assaulted by the group while fishing. One man was wounded by an arrow to the gut. He survived, but the second individual was discovered lifeless after several days with several puncture marks in his frame.

The Peruvian government follows a approach of non-contact with remote tribes, rendering it prohibited to commence contact with them.

The strategy was first adopted in a nearby nation after decades of campaigning by community representatives, who saw that initial interaction with remote tribes lead to entire communities being decimated by sickness, hardship and hunger.

In the 1980s, when the Nahau tribe in the country first encountered with the outside world, 50% of their people perished within a short period. In the 1990s, the Muruhanua tribe faced the same fate.

“Secluded communities are very vulnerable—from a disease perspective, any exposure might spread sicknesses, and even the simplest ones may eliminate them,” says a representative from a local advocacy organization. “Culturally too, any exposure or intrusion may be extremely detrimental to their existence and well-being as a society.”

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