A male gaur was killed after being knocked down by a vehicle on the Tiruchi-Madurai national highway at Thuvarankurichi in the district on Thursday. 

The accident occurred at the crack of dawn when the animal was crossing the highway. The gaur was about 12 years old. 

On receipt of information, field-level Forest Department staff rushed to the spot. A postmortem was done on the carcass which was subsequently buried inside the reserve forest at Thuvarankurichi, said the department sources.