The beasts are backward, having broken toes (7)
I believe the answer is:
coyotes
'the beasts' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both animals as well as being plural nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'backward having broken toes' is the wordplay.
'backward' becomes 'coy' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'having broken' is an anagram indicator.
'toes' with letters rearranged gives 'otes'.
'coy'+'otes'='COYOTES'
'are' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for coyotes that I've seen before include "Prairie wolves" , "American prairie dogs" , "North American predators" .)