Animal control scarce in report (8)
I believe the answer is:
reindeer
'animal' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'control scarce in report' is the wordplay.
'control' becomes 'rein' (reining is a kind of controlling).
'scarce in report' becomes 'deer' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'rein'+'deer'='REINDEER'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for reindeer that I've seen before include "Red-nosed Rudolf is one" , "'Dancer or Prancer, say (8)'" , "Santa's sleigh pullers" , "They pull Santa's sleigh" , "Arctic animal with large antlers" .)