A net helps wild animals (9)
I believe the answer is:
elephants
'animals' is the definition.
(elephant is a kind of animal)
'a net helps wild' is the wordplay.
'wild' indicates an anagram.
'a'+'net'+'helps'='anethelps'
'anethelps' anagrammed gives 'ELEPHANTS'.
(Other definitions for elephants that I've seen before include "Largest animals" , "Five-toed pachyderms" , "See 16" , "Jumbos" , "big game" .)