The "They became furries in an experiment" or "They come from the furry galaxy 5 sectors away!" are even more cringe worthy BS. It's an utter shame to see people shoe-horn this kind of cheap roleplay into Discovery.
You know, if people want to take furries in disco so seriously, maybe we should incorporate a new faction of furry hunters. Instead of just recycling the phantom tech and turning it into the Etherium, we should give it to this new cult of 'furry hunters' who are religiously devoted to hunting furries all over Sirius.