I blame Cartoon Network and Nintendo.  When I was little, my favorite shows ever were Swat Kats and Road Rovers, and my first N64 games were Donkey Kong and Starfox.  So I guess I just had that imprint of anthropomorphism from a really young age, and never grew out of it.  Not that I mind, of course.

For me it was the stuff I used to watch when I was a kid.  Movies like "Cats Don't Dance" and "The Fox and The Hound" got me hooked, and then came video games 

In my case it was such shows as The Animals of Farthing Wood, Rupert Bear and several others, though the titles escape me at the moment >.<

though I do remember Billy the Cat which definitely contributed and I suspect perhaps is what first made me think that it might be interesting to be an animal, followed years later by Star Fox actually getting me interested in the idea of anthropomorphic animals. Pretty much the majority of what I saw on tv featured anthropomorphic animals in some way or another, so I figure that probably contributed somewhat to me being a furry

To me, I feel like I've been in the fandom all my life, and didn't realize it! When I was younger, I always used to imagine myself as sonic, sally, tails, or any other of my favorite cartoon or video game favorites, and it's stuck with me ever since then. I also have a picture of me in my fursuit at furry fiesta, but that's for another topic and thread altogether.

Pretty much the majority of what I saw on tv featured anthropomorphic animals in some way or another, so I figure that probably contributed somewhat to me being a furry

You've got it down to a tee there, so much of children's tv used to be about talking animals, and I guess I've always been into cartoons and felt pretty disillusioned with people in RL, so it sorta stuck.

As animation has improved it seems like cartoons about humans are more popular now, I'd be interested to see what this means for the next generation of furries.

It's more of a question of religion for me.  One of the things that's supposed to be a cornerstone in chaotism is paradigm shifts: you're supposed to drp and assume convictions as fluidly as possible.  Most of the authors recommend looking into ideas of politics, religion, even orientation (many kinds of orientation), but nobody seemed to think of species.  So why not try and identify as a different species and see what happens? 

Personal liberation, that's my motive. 

(Okay, and it's an excuse to do something exceptionally silly)

I think it's from my liking of the book series Animorphs I found the whole turning into animal theme that the book was centered around amazing and very cool.

I believe it is the curiosity of what it would be like to have a real tail and fur!!!!!!

Also I do not believe it is caused by (TV shows or games) because the people who make them have to be somewhat of a furry themselves!!!!!