One who appraises animals — some odd rabbits, initially (8)
I believe the answer is:
assessor
'one who appraises' is the definition.
The answer is a person as well as being a singular noun. This is suggested by the definition.
'animals some odd rabbits initially' is the wordplay.
'animals' becomes 'asses' (I've seen this before).
'initially' indicates taking the first letters.
The first letters of 'some odd rabbits' is 'sor'.
'asses'+'sor'='ASSESSOR'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for assessor that I've seen before include "One evaluates property" , "Person who tests" , "One who estimates value etc for insurance company" , "Person providing marks" , "In his estimation" .)