Well, allow me to be frank. You haven't exactly chosen an easy question to answer...
To start of, I do absolutely believe that pretty much any human person can be comfortably fitted inside of an animal personality. And, although I struggle to find any plausible scientifical explanaition of how, from what I've seen when casually observing people's psychology and behaviour, this is almost always the case.
But, Santa Claus isn't exactly human. He's a mythical being. Hell, with the abilities that the western Santa Claus would have, provided that his ways of operating would be taken litterally, it wouldn't be too hard pressed to called him an actual diety...
Let's first take a look at what we can say about who Santa is.
Given that we're dealing with someone who, once a year, goes around the entiry of North America, and most of Europe to give children gifts, and does a lot of talking, and letting them sit on his lap, and stuff, I'd say that it's quite safe to say that we're dealing with an outrageously social figure.
He's also honest, as he rewards good behaviour, As well as extremely friendly, as all kids of the North American continent, as well as most of Europe, as A LOT of kids.
Our man is also extremely hard-working and dedicated, since he's devoting pretty much his entire life to his cause. And, he's also a very strong leader figure, as he's got a huge load of elves under his employment.
And lastly, we can say that he's a pretty fashionable person, telltale from his crispy vibrant-red, and clean white, signature clothing.
That's a pretty decent picture of Santa, isn't it?
Back to the question of what kind of "furry" Santa Clays would be...
When people think of furries, they pretty much instantly think about canines, and felines. But, looking at our Santa Claus description web, I believe that we can safely rule out simply all pure carnivorous species, and even domesticated dogs/cats.
A carnivore needs to kill other living beings to eat. This process is risky, and requires lots of energy and focus. Hence, carnivorous species are fundamentally utilitarian creatures, as they cannot afford to waste energy, take risks, stand out from the crowd, and they cannot be overly social, as this would mean too many mouths that need feeding.
To put it simply, any carnivorous personally simply wouldn't take the risk of such a gigantic undertaking.
Soo, unfortunately, the geographically accurate polar bear wouldn't fit the bill either...
Something that I thought would fit were owls.
But also there, owls are, besides avians, also carnivorous, and their personalities are often telltale with their sollitudal lifestyles, and their appreciation for calmt and quiet.
Not quite a santa either.
After some thinking, my mind randomly stumbled across the elephant. And, well, I think we've got it here.
Elephants are very large, strong, and solid animals, meaning that they're very confident creatures, as there's not really much that can oppose them. Because of their size, they are also very dedicated. After all, with their hulking sizes, they can't really alter course all too much, once they've gotten going!
Pair their dedication with their intelligence, (They're often kept as circus animals, after all) and you've got a great leader, aswell!
And, because they are purely herbivoric, they don't have to be affraid of starving, either, and wouldn't be appaled by such a selfless pursuit.
They're also very social creatures.
Scientists have observed them to have a very detailed social structure, with paternal role models, similair to humans have, such as aunts/uncles, grandparents, wich do excellent jobs at taking care for one-another's spouse.
And, the cherry on the cake...
some recent happenings have suggested that elephants think that humans (and possibly other animals, ofcourse) are cute.
The sight of a human, or a kid may bring them the same emotion as most humans get, then they look at a puppy, or a kitten.
The only disrepancies are that elephants are very plain looking animals, as well as that they would be geologically incorrect as [REDACTED] to live on the North-pole.
But, right now, I really can't think of anything better...
Any questions or suggestions? c: