Were they furries in the past? What is the history of paraphilia towards anthropomorphic animal characters?

by [deleted]

I checked wikipedia, they brushed it off as a 1980s thing.

Is it a really a recent thing? or does it existed as something different in the past?

EnclavedMicrostate

More can of course be said, especially as regards your more particular question, but this answer by /u/commiespaceinvader discusses the emergence of the contemporary phenomenon.