New York city cops heading to apprehend animal (5)
I believe the answer is:
nyala
'animal' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'new york city cops heading to apprehend' is the wordplay.
'new york' becomes 'ny'.
'city' becomes 'LA' (Los Angeles).
'cops' indicates putting letters inside (inserted letters are caught or copped).
'heading to' indicates taking the first letters (the head of the word).
The first letter of 'apprehend' is 'a'.
'ny'+'la'='nyla'
'nyla' enclosing 'a' is 'NYALA'.
(Other definitions for nyala that I've seen before include "beast" , "South African antelope - Sudanese city" , "one of a herd" , "Large African antelope" , "South African resident" .)