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The resident Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a tiny glade deep in the Peruvian rainforest when he detected footsteps coming closer through the lush woodland.

It dawned on him he was surrounded, and halted.

“One person was standing, pointing with an bow and arrow,” he states. “Unexpectedly he noticed that I was present and I started to run.”

He ended up face to face the Mashco Piro. Over many years, Tomas—residing in the small community of Nueva Oceania—had been almost a neighbor to these nomadic tribe, who avoid engagement with outsiders.

An updated study from a human rights organisation states there are no fewer than 196 termed “uncontacted groups” remaining worldwide. The group is believed to be the biggest. The study states a significant portion of these communities may be decimated over the coming ten years should administrations neglect to implement additional actions to defend them.

It claims the most significant dangers are from timber harvesting, digging or operations for oil. Remote communities are highly at risk to common illness—as such, it states a threat is posed by contact with religious missionaries and online personalities looking for attention.

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

The village is a angling community of several clans, sitting elevated on the banks of the local river in the center of the of Peru rainforest, a ten-hour journey from the most accessible settlement by boat.

This region is not recognised as a protected zone for isolated tribes, and deforestation operations function here.

Tomas says that, sometimes, the noise of heavy equipment can be detected continuously, and the community are seeing their woodland disturbed and destroyed.

Among the locals, people state they are conflicted. They are afraid of the projectiles but they also have deep respect for their “relatives” dwelling in the jungle and wish to defend them.

“Allow them to live according to their traditions, we must not modify their culture. That's why we maintain our distance,” explains Tomas.

The people in Nueva Oceania are worried about the destruction to the community's way of life, the risk of conflict and the possibility that deforestation crews might expose the tribe to illnesses they have no immunity to.

While we were in the village, the Mashco Piro made themselves known again. Letitia Rodriguez Lopez, a young mother with a two-year-old girl, was in the woodland gathering produce when she heard them.

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

This marked the first instance she had encountered the Mashco Piro and she escaped. Subsequently, her head was continually racing from fear.

“Since there are timber workers and companies destroying the jungle they're running away, perhaps due to terror and they end up near us,” she said. “We are uncertain what their response may be with us. That is the thing that frightens me.”

Recently, two individuals were assaulted by the group while fishing. One man was hit by an projectile to the gut. He survived, but the other man was found lifeless subsequently with nine injuries in his body.

Authorities in Peru follows a policy of no engagement with secluded communities, rendering it illegal to start interactions with them.

This approach was first adopted in the neighboring country after decades of campaigning by indigenous rights groups, who observed that initial interaction with remote tribes could lead to entire communities being eliminated by illness, destitution and hunger.

In the 1980s, when the Nahau tribe in the country came into contact with the outside world, half of their population succumbed within a matter of years. During the 1990s, the Muruhanua tribe suffered the same fate.

“Secluded communities are highly vulnerable—from a disease perspective, any interaction might introduce sicknesses, and even the most common illnesses might wipe them out,” explains Issrail Aquisse from a tribal support group. “From a societal perspective, any interaction or interference can be highly damaging to their existence and well-being as a community.”

For local residents of {