I'm surprised that it's difficult to understand.
I have no difficulty understanding the appeal of furry porn. I'm not surprised if a guy who looks at hentai takes a look at it. My question should have been "why," not "how:" if that guy is happy looking at hentai, what is the impetus to get into furry stuff beyond a casual glance at Dr. Comet's Krystal? Specifically, getting into it enough to get into the furry lifestyle and act it all out? If that guy is still young, he might just get into it. But if he's older and in a fetish escalation spiral, I'd guess he'd move into hentai with more degrading topics, a downward turn, as opposed to getting into furry, which seems like a left turn toward a different aesthetic. Otherwise, if he's an older guy and not spiraling, it's hard for me to imagine him being essentially peer-pressured into liking furry stuff at anything more than a cursory level. My comments were originally in response to
@Corn Flakes' post about how many straight, non-furry guys end up becoming gay furries, and I should have asked what age these guys are. If they're 15, they're grooming victims, if they're 20, they're being foolishly impatient about their lack of success in the normal dating world, and if they're 25, I would think they'd be settled enough in their own habits that they wouldn't respond to manipulation. But I am ignorant of the social dynamic and probably underestimating how lonely these guys are.
I had assumed all furries were driven by a deep-seated fetish, not a socially dependent veneer of one. I thought the fetish preceded the community and was the motivating factor to join it. Therefore, I assumed jailhouse gay furries were just straight guys so consumed by their fetish that, though the ultimate goal was "have straight, furry sex," they were far more willing in practice to compromise on the "straight" aspect than the "furry" aspect. I thought they were getting at least one of the things they wanted, but if many of them don't really want the furry aspect either, if it's just a series of hoops they're jumping through to make having sex possible at all (or even just to have friends), I am moved to pity them. If there are guys out there with whom the following conversation could happen:
A: Are you a gay furry?
B: Yes.
A: So that means you're gay?
B: Well, not really. I just sort of fell into it.
A: But at least you're a furry, right?
B: Well, not really. I just sort of fell into it.
A: But you're a gay furry?
B: Of course! I couldn't imagine not being one.
I can't help but think of them as exemplars of the "tragic clown" trope. Apologies if this is all obvious to everybody else or has been discussed to death already.