Almost die as young animal (3)
I believe the answer is:
cub
'young animal' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'almost die' is the wordplay.
'almost' means to remove the last letter (most of the word but not all of it).
'die' becomes 'cube' (I've seen this before).
'cube' with its final letter taken off is 'CUB'.
'as' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for cub that I've seen before include "Young lion or fox" , "A baby fox or bear" , "Young one" , "Young newspaper reporter" , "cheeky youngster" .)