Crossword Genius

Ran wild in captivity causing dreadful loss of life (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

carnage

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

'dreadful loss of life' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.

'ran wild in captivity' is the wordplay.
'wild' indicates an anagram.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'captivity' becomes 'cage' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'ran' anagrammed gives 'arn'.
'arn' put within 'cage' is 'CARNAGE'.

'causing' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for carnage that I've seen before include "Bloodbath" , "Killing of large numbers" , "Bloody slaughter and butchery" , "Mass killing" , "Wholesale slaughter" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.
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