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The resident Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a small glade far in the Peruvian rainforest when he detected movements coming closer through the dense jungle.

It dawned on him he was hemmed in, and halted.

“One stood, aiming with an projectile,” he remembers. “Somehow he noticed that I was present and I started to run.”

He found himself encountering the Mashco Piro. For decades, Tomas—residing in the tiny settlement of Nueva Oceania—served as virtually a neighbor to these itinerant individuals, who reject engagement with outsiders.

A new report from a rights organization claims exist a minimum of 196 of what it calls “uncontacted groups” remaining globally. The Mashco Piro is believed to be the most numerous. It says half of these tribes might be eliminated in the next decade if governments fail to take more measures to safeguard them.

It argues the most significant threats stem from logging, extraction or drilling for oil. Uncontacted groups are highly susceptible to basic illness—consequently, the study states a danger is caused by exposure with proselytizers and social media influencers looking for attention.

Lately, members of the tribe have been appearing to Nueva Oceania more and more, based on accounts from locals.

The village is a fishing village of a handful of households, located atop on the shores of the Tauhamanu waterway deep within the Peruvian rainforest, 10 hours from the nearest town by boat.

This region is not classified as a safeguarded zone for isolated tribes, and logging companies work here.

Tomas says that, on occasion, the racket of logging machinery can be noticed day and night, and the Mashco Piro people are seeing their jungle damaged and devastated.

Among the locals, people report they are divided. They are afraid of the Mashco Piro's arrows but they hold strong respect for their “kin” dwelling in the woodland and desire to defend them.

“Let them live according to their traditions, we can't alter their way of life. For this reason we maintain our separation,” explains Tomas.

The people in Nueva Oceania are concerned about the destruction to the community's way of life, the risk of violence and the chance that loggers might subject the tribe to illnesses they have no defense to.

While we were in the community, the group appeared again. Letitia, a resident with a young child, was in the jungle picking produce when she heard them.

“We heard cries, sounds from people, a large number of them. As though there were a large gathering shouting,” she shared with us.

That was the initial occasion she had met the group and she fled. Subsequently, her head was persistently throbbing from terror.

“Because operate deforestation crews and companies clearing the forest they are fleeing, perhaps out of fear and they arrive close to us,” she stated. “We don't know how they might react with us. This is what terrifies me.”

In 2022, two individuals were confronted by the tribe while catching fish. One was hit by an bow to the abdomen. He survived, but the other person was located dead days later with nine injuries in his frame.

Authorities in Peru maintains a policy of non-contact with secluded communities, establishing it as forbidden to initiate encounters with them.

This approach began in Brazil following many years of advocacy by community representatives, who noted that initial interaction with secluded communities resulted to entire communities being wiped out by illness, poverty and starvation.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau community in Peru came into contact with the outside world, 50% of their people perished within a short period. During the 1990s, the Muruhanua people faced the identical outcome.

“Secluded communities are highly vulnerable—epidemiologically, any contact could introduce sicknesses, and even the most common illnesses could eliminate them,” explains an advocate from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “From a societal perspective, any contact or disruption may be very harmful to their life and well-being as a society.”

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