Beasts retiring with broken toes (7)
I believe the answer is:
coyotes
'beasts' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both animals as well as being plural nouns.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'retiring with broken toes' is the wordplay.
'retiring' becomes 'coy' (both can mean shy).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'broken' is an anagram indicator.
'toes' with letters rearranged gives 'otes'.
'coy'+'otes'='COYOTES'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for coyotes that I've seen before include "North American predators" , "American prairie dogs" , "Prairie wolves" .)