Hunted creature's mournful cry heard (5)

I believe the answer is:

whale

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'hunted creature's mournful' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.

'cry heard' is the wordplay.
'cry' becomes 'wail' (wailing is a kind of crying).
'heard' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
'wail' is a homophone of 'WHALE'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for whale that I've seen before include "Large marine creature" , "monster" , "Large animal" , "Biblical swallower of Jonah" , "Aquatic mammal" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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