Americans African lions mauled (12)

I believe the answer is:

californians

'americans' is the definition.
(Californian is an example)

'african lions mauled' is the wordplay.
'mauled' indicates an anagram.
'african'+'lions'='africanlions'
'africanlions' is an anagram of 'CALIFORNIANS'.

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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