37 zebu thieves and a local people were killed in a confrontation during zebu theft in southern Madagascar, statement from national gendarmerie said on Thursday.

The event happened on Wednesday in Esira, a red zone for zebu theft practice in southern Madagascar, the statement said.

One of local population was shot dead by the zebu thieves while two others were also seriously injured, according to the statement.

The national gendarmerie sent a dozen gendarmes and a helicopter to rescue the population.

Zebu thieves' survivors fled away and left about 250 zebus in the war field.

Since last year, recrudescence of zebu theft has been recorded in Madagascar, killing thousands of people, including military elements, local people and also robbers.

According to data from the ministry of livestocks, nearly 14, 000 zebus were stolen by the "dahalo", while 2,691 were returned to their owners and 53 were killed by the "dahalo" since May 2012.

Zebu industry is one of basis of livestock sector in Madagascar. According to the ministry of livestock, Madagascar had 12 millions zebus in 1920, about 4.5 zebus per capita, but this ratio was dropped to 1 zebu per capita in 1987 and 0.5 of zebu per capita currently.