Flagged thread NSFW just in case.
For me it was when I googled for images of digimon. There was no google “safe search” back then and I quickly got interested. I soon discovered VCL and other now defunct sites like “free paws”.
Somehow, back in 2003-4ish I found the fantasy art gallery Elfwood. Obviously I went to the first gallery, which had Ursula Vernon, Xianjaguar and a few other furries. From there I followed their links to Yerf and Livejournals and found more old school furry artists including Heather Bruton (…responsible for my “I like men now” moment).
Later I found deviantart, then the webcomic twokinds and eventually FA. I only really got involved in 2020, posting on twitter and reddit but never really found a community or friend group until looking into the furry scene on Twitch.