Crossword Genius

Animal of compassion, say (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

hart

'animal' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'compassion say' is the wordplay.
'compassion' becomes 'heart' (I've seen this before).
'say' shows a homophone (sound like).
'heart' is a homophone of 'HART'.

'of' is the link.

(Other definitions for hart that I've seen before include "Stag" , "Beast" , "Mature male deer" , "Male red-deer" , "Songwriting partnership, Rodgers and --" .)

I've seen this clue in The Mirror.
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