Rescue brute, grabbing end of tail (7)
I believe the answer is:
salvage
'rescue' is the definition.
(I know that salvage is a type of rescue)
'brute grabbing end of tail' is the wordplay.
'brute' becomes 'savage' (synonyms).
'grabbing' is an insertion indicator.
'end of' says to take the final letters.
The final letter of 'tail' is 'l'.
'savage' going around 'l' is 'SALVAGE'.
(Other definitions for salvage that I've seen before include "Rescue a wrecked ship at sea" , "Goods saved from wrecked ship" , "Reclaim" , "Rescue, retrieve" , "Restore" .)