Moreau

A moreau is an unusual term for a furry character. The term comes from the H.G. Wells novel The Island of Dr. Moreau, in which the eponymous doctor used groundbreaking but extremely painful surgical techniques to transform animals into sentient anthropomorphs.

In books
Moreaus were first used in the book Forests of the Night by S. Andrew Swann. In this book, "moreaus" were created as disposable government agents, and were second-class citizens. The book was so successful, that three sequels were written.

In roleplaying games
"Moreaus" are a set of playable races in the roleplaying game d20 Modern. In this, there are six types of moreau, with three levels of 'humanity' versus 'animality' (covert, which look human; moderate, which can look human with effort; and overt, which are obviously animals).

These moreaus were originally created for the genetic engineering conspiracy setting, Genetech, which took a lot from the books written by Swann.