I was gonna reply with an essay myself but the other guys explained everything pretty much perfectly, but I'll still add this: I tried my best in the short time that the player has to experience the world, to make sure they understand that the lizard is not equivalent to a slave, that's just what the MC thinks because he is way too emphatic and naive for his own good. Yes, their species is more than just dumb animals, but not even close to Wild Furs, and especially not people.
I'd say that the fact he is the only one to even try to defend a Savage Fur from what he thinks is 'slavery' is a strong argument towards the fact that he does have a personality of his own, since all the other people (Dallan, Aiden, Scribbles etc) would agree with Tate in that regard.