Crossword Genius

Audibly bid farewell to child holding animal (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

bison

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

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

'audibly bid farewell to child' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'child' could be 'son' (male child) and 'son' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'bi' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'holding' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for bison that I've seen before include "US wild ox" , "Kind of shaggy cattle" , "Buffalo Bill's prey" , "European beast" , "Large humped bovid of N America" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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