The animals, you say, you'll put to work (3)
I believe the answer is:
use
'put to work' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'the animals you say you'll' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'you' could be 'u' (commonly used in online communication) and 'u' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'se' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for use that I've seen before include "Apply, employ" , "Employ; consume" , "Resort to - operation" , "Consumption" , "Employ - custom" .)