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Tomas Anez Dos Santos was laboring in a modest open space far in the of Peru Amazon when he detected movements coming closer through the dense jungle.

He became aware that he had been hemmed in, and halted.

“A single individual was standing, directing using an bow and arrow,” he remembers. “Somehow he noticed I was here and I began to run.”

He ended up face to face the Mashco Piro. For a long time, Tomas—dwelling in the tiny settlement of Nueva Oceania—had been almost a neighbour to these wandering individuals, who reject interaction with foreigners.

A new document from a advocacy organization states remain a minimum of 196 described as “isolated tribes” in existence in the world. The Mashco Piro is believed to be the biggest. The report states a significant portion of these tribes might be wiped out over the coming ten years unless authorities don't do more to protect them.

It claims the greatest threats are from timber harvesting, digging or drilling for oil. Remote communities are extremely susceptible to ordinary sickness—as such, it notes a danger is presented by contact with religious missionaries and digital content creators looking for attention.

Lately, members of the tribe have been coming to Nueva Oceania more and more, according to locals.

Nueva Oceania is a fishing community of several clans, perched elevated on the edges of the Tauhamanu River in the center of the of Peru jungle, 10 hours from the closest town by canoe.

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

According to Tomas that, sometimes, the sound of logging machinery can be heard continuously, and the tribe members are witnessing their forest disrupted and devastated.

In Nueva Oceania, residents state they are torn. They fear the Mashco Piro's arrows but they also have profound respect for their “relatives” residing in the jungle and wish to protect them.

“Let them live as they live, we can't modify their way of life. That's why we preserve our separation,” explains Tomas.

Residents in Nueva Oceania are anxious about the destruction to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the threat of conflict and the chance that deforestation crews might subject the Mashco Piro to diseases they have no defense to.

While we were in the village, the tribe made their presence felt again. Letitia, a resident with a two-year-old daughter, was in the woodland collecting food when she heard them.

“There were calls, sounds from people, many of them. As if there was a whole group shouting,” she shared with us.

That was the first time she had met the tribe and she ran. Subsequently, her mind was still pounding from anxiety.

“Since there are loggers and operations cutting down the forest they're running away, maybe due to terror and they end up near us,” she said. “We are uncertain what their response may be to us. That's what terrifies me.”

Two years ago, a pair of timber workers were assaulted by the group while fishing. A single person was struck by an bow to the gut. He recovered, but the second individual was found dead after several days with multiple puncture marks in his frame.

The Peruvian government maintains a policy of non-contact with secluded communities, establishing it as illegal to start interactions with them.

The strategy was first adopted in Brazil following many years of lobbying by indigenous rights groups, who saw that initial exposure with secluded communities lead to entire communities being wiped out by disease, poverty and malnutrition.

During the 1980s, when the Nahau people in the country first encountered with the world outside, a significant portion of their people perished within a short period. During the 1990s, the Muruhanua community faced the identical outcome.

“Remote tribes are very susceptible—epidemiologically, any interaction might introduce diseases, and even the basic infections might wipe them out,” explains Issrail Aquisse from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “In cultural terms, any contact or intrusion could be extremely detrimental to their way of life and survival as a society.”

For local residents of {