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The resident Tomas Anez Dos Santos toiled in a tiny glade far in the Peruvian rainforest when he noticed movements drawing near through the thick woodland.

He realized he was encircled, and halted.

“One person positioned, directing using an projectile,” he states. “And somehow he noticed that I was present and I started to escape.”

He found himself encountering the Mashco Piro tribe. Over many years, Tomas—who lives in the tiny village of Nueva Oceania—had been almost a neighbour to these wandering people, who avoid interaction with strangers.

An updated document from a rights organisation states there are at least 196 of what it calls “isolated tribes” left worldwide. The group is thought to be the largest. The study states a significant portion of these tribes might be wiped out within ten years if governments fail to take further to protect them.

It argues the greatest threats stem from deforestation, extraction or drilling for petroleum. Isolated tribes are extremely vulnerable to ordinary disease—consequently, the study says a threat is presented by interaction with evangelical missionaries and social media influencers seeking clicks.

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

Nueva Oceania is a fishing community of seven or eight households, perched high on the shores of the Tauhamanu waterway in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, a ten-hour journey from the nearest settlement by canoe.

The territory is not recognised as a safeguarded area for remote communities, and logging companies work here.

According to Tomas that, at times, the sound of logging machinery can be detected around the clock, and the community are observing their jungle disturbed and ruined.

Among the locals, people report they are conflicted. They are afraid of the tribal weapons but they also have strong admiration for their “relatives” who live in the jungle and want to defend them.

“Permit them to live as they live, we are unable to change their culture. This is why we maintain our separation,” says Tomas.

The people in Nueva Oceania are worried about the harm to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the risk of violence and the chance that timber workers might introduce the community to illnesses they have no immunity to.

While we were in the community, the group made their presence felt again. Letitia Rodriguez Lopez, a woman with a young girl, was in the forest collecting fruit when she heard them.

“There were calls, cries from others, many of them. Like it was a large gathering yelling,” she told us.

It was the initial occasion she had met the Mashco Piro and she fled. An hour later, her mind was continually racing from terror.

“Because exist timber workers and companies destroying the woodland they're running away, maybe because of dread and they arrive near us,” she explained. “We are uncertain how they will behave with us. That's what frightens me.”

Recently, two individuals were attacked by the group while catching fish. One was hit by an bow to the abdomen. He recovered, but the second individual was located deceased subsequently with nine puncture marks in his physique.

The administration follows a strategy of non-contact with secluded communities, rendering it illegal to initiate encounters with them.

This approach originated in a nearby nation after decades of lobbying by indigenous rights groups, who noted that early interaction with isolated people lead to entire communities being decimated by disease, hardship and starvation.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau tribe in Peru made initial contact with the broader society, 50% of their community succumbed within a matter of years. During the 1990s, the Muruhanua people suffered the similar destiny.

“Remote tribes are extremely susceptible—from a disease perspective, any interaction could spread sicknesses, and including the simplest ones could decimate them,” explains an advocate from a local advocacy organization. “In cultural terms, any contact or intrusion can be extremely detrimental to their life and survival as a community.”

For local residents of {