Servant once about to be eaten by wild animal (6)
I believe the answer is:
bearer
'servant' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'about to be eaten by wild animal' is the wordplay.
'about' becomes 're' (regarding).
'to be eaten by' means one lot of letters goes inside another (inserted letters get eaten).
'wild animal' becomes 'bear' (bears are wild animals).
're' put inside 'bear' is 'BEARER'.
'once' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for bearer that I've seen before include "One who puts up with" , "He helps to carry something - sometimes a coffin" , "One who helps to carry something - maybe news" , "native servant" , "He presents bill" .)