The meta answer is a U.S. State Capital that fits the theme (there are many that fit the theme, but you'll have to do meta step two to get the correct one :)
There are other grid answers that match up to the hidden animals- nASSau=Donkey, cAPEtown=Orang, sANTiago=Vermin, mosCOW=Elsie, bucHAREst=Rabbit. Thanks for solving!
Thanks, Darth. I just started making these a couple of months ago on a dare, so I'm still learning all of the intricacies of construction. You veterans make it look so easy!