Tear at recoiling animal (5)
I believe the answer is:
tapir
'animal' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'tear at recoiling' is the wordplay.
'tear' becomes 'rip' (ripping is a kind of tearing).
'recoiling' is a reversal indicator.
'rip'+'at'='ripat'
'ripat' in reverse letter order is 'TAPIR'.
(Other definitions for tapir that I've seen before include "Nocturnal hoofed animal" , "Long-nosed, hoofed mammal" , "I part with the pig-like animal" , "Nocturnal mammal with a short flexible proboscis" , "nocturnal beast" .)