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Tomas Anez Dos Santos was laboring in a modest glade far in the Peruvian jungle when he detected sounds drawing near through the thick woodland.

He became aware that he stood surrounded, and stood still.

“A single individual positioned, directing with an projectile,” he remembers. “And somehow he became aware that I was present and I commenced to escape.”

He ended up encountering the Mashco Piro. For decades, Tomas—residing in the modest village of Nueva Oceania—was practically a local to these wandering people, who avoid interaction with outsiders.

A recent report from a advocacy group indicates remain no fewer than 196 described as “isolated tribes” left globally. The group is considered to be the most numerous. It claims half of these tribes could be decimated in the next decade if governments neglect to implement more actions to defend them.

It argues the most significant threats stem from logging, extraction or exploration for oil. Remote communities are extremely at risk to ordinary illness—consequently, the report notes a risk is posed by interaction with religious missionaries and online personalities seeking engagement.

Recently, the Mashco Piro have been appearing to Nueva Oceania increasingly, based on accounts from inhabitants.

Nueva Oceania is a fishermen's village of seven or eight clans, perched atop on the edges of the Tauhamanu waterway in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, 10 hours from the nearest village by canoe.

This region is not classified as a preserved area for remote communities, and deforestation operations work here.

Tomas reports that, sometimes, the noise of heavy equipment can be heard around the clock, and the tribe members are witnessing their forest disrupted and destroyed.

In Nueva Oceania, residents state they are torn. They are afraid of the Mashco Piro's arrows but they also possess profound respect for their “kin” residing in the jungle and desire to defend them.

“Let them live as they live, we are unable to modify their way of life. That's why we maintain our separation,” explains Tomas.

Inhabitants in Nueva Oceania are worried 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 diseases they have no resistance to.

While we were in the settlement, the group appeared again. Letitia Rodriguez Lopez, a young mother with a two-year-old daughter, was in the jungle collecting fruit when she heard them.

“There were cries, cries from people, many of them. Like there was a large gathering shouting,” she informed us.

It was the first instance she had come across the Mashco Piro and she escaped. Subsequently, her mind was still pounding from anxiety.

“Because operate loggers and companies clearing the woodland they are escaping, perhaps because of dread and they come close to us,” she explained. “It is unclear how they might react towards us. This is what terrifies me.”

In 2022, a pair of timber workers were attacked by the Mashco Piro while fishing. A single person was wounded by an bow to the abdomen. He survived, but the other person was located lifeless days later with several injuries in his body.

Authorities in Peru maintains a approach of avoiding interaction with secluded communities, establishing it as illegal to initiate contact with them.

The policy began in Brazil following many years of lobbying by tribal advocacy organizations, who noted that first interaction with secluded communities could lead to entire communities being decimated by disease, poverty and starvation.

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

“Isolated indigenous peoples are extremely vulnerable—epidemiologically, any exposure might spread diseases, and even the most common illnesses may decimate them,” explains a representative from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “From a societal perspective, any interaction or intrusion could be extremely detrimental to their way of life and health as a group.”

For local residents of {