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Raccoons Mistake Cybertruck For Dumpster, And Wyoming Auto Experts Agree
Cowboy State Daily ^ | August 6, 2024 | Mark Heinz

Posted on 08/07/2024 8:39:02 AM PDT by Red Badger

A Minnesota man excited that his Cybertruck is raccoon proof has been teased mercilessly that the critters think his expensive EV is a dumpster. And Wyoming auto experts agree with the raccoons.

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A Minnesota man posted photos of how his Cybertruck withstood an assault by raccoons. What people have been quick to point out is the critters think it looks like a dumpster. (Cowboy State Daily Staff)

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After raccoons tried unsuccessfully to break into the covered bed of a Minnesota man’s Cybertruck, he went online to brag the the vehicle had proven itself “raccoon-proof.”

It didn’t take long for thousands of responders to point out that while his Cybertruck may be secure from raccoons, the troublemaking critters apparently think the Cybertruck looks like a dumpster.

People started teasing him, saying the trash pandas went after the Cybertruck in the first place because it looks similar to the garbage dumpsters they’re used to raiding.

Some Wyoming auto experts say that’s not an unfair assessment.

“I do think the Cybertruck, in a certain light, looks exactly like a dumpster,” automotive writer Aaron Turpen of Cheyenne told Cowboy State Daily.

Automotive journalist Vince Bodiford agreed.

He believes the raccoons could have tried to break into the vehicle because they “may have really thought it was a garbage dumpster. I get it, it’s a mistake that’s understandable,” said Bodiford, who runs theweekenddrive.com, an online automotive magazine based in Cheyenne and Detroit.

Social Media Backlash

After a recent camping trip in Minnesota, Cybertruck owner Nic Cruz Patane posted on X (formerly Twitter) that raccoons had tried to tear open the panel covering the vehicle’s bed. Their muddle footprints are all over the Cybertruck’s bed cover.

Although they did considerable damage to the panel, they weren’t able to breach it, Patane posted.

He bragged that his Cybertruck had been proven “raccoon-proof.”

But that claim backfired on him in the social media sphere. People started chiding him for owning a vehicle that raccoons think is a dumpster.

Turpen said he’s seen some of the online blowback, and it’s entertaining.

“I’ve seen the memes, it’s hilarious,” he said.

Bodiford said the Cybertruck dissing was likely deserved, because the vehicle just doesn’t fit the pickup mold.

Going all the way back to the first Ford Model T trucks in the early 1900s, pickups have shared a common linage, he said.

“If you follow the design of that particular pickup, the original Model T, every new iteration of the pickup truck has made sense, it’s got some sort of utility connection to that very first pickup,” he said.

Not so with the Cybertruck, Bodiford said.

“The Cybertruck doesn’t have a logical connection to anything resembling a pickup truck,” he said. “I do think it has more in common with a dumpster than a pickup.”

‘Magic White Fluffberries’

Raccoons are the ultimate opportunists and likely went after the Cybertruck because the smelled something yummy inside, wildlife rescuer Patricia Wyer told Cowboy State Daily.

“There must have been something in the vehicle that drew them in,” said Wyer, who runs the Broken Bandit Wildlife Center near Cheyenne.

Although the idea that the raccoons were drawn to the Cybertruck because they thought was a dumpster is hysterical, raccoons will try breaking into just about anything that has food in it, she said.

Over the years, she’s taken in many raccoons and said there’s one thing in particular they find irresistible – marshmallows.

“I’m pretty sure there were marshmallows in the Cybertruck, because raccoons really love marshmallows,” she said. “They love the sweet flavor of them. We call marshmallows ‘magic white fluffberries’ here at the rescue center.”

The ‘Blade Runner’ Angle Fell Flat

Bodiford said if Cybertrucks really do look like dumpsters to raccoons, and marshmallows are a raccoon magnet, then taking a Cybertruck with marshmallows in it camping in Wyoming would be a doubly bad idea.

“If that’s the case, then you probably shouldn’t drive one into Yellowstone,” he said.

Turpen said he understands what Cybertruck producer Elon Musk was going for with the vehicle’s design, but it’s turned out to be a huge miss, at least in Wyoming.

“He was going for the ‘Blade Runner’ look,” Turpen said, referencing the classic Sci-Fi film. “As a nerd, I understand that, but I think Cybertrucks are over-hyped and over-priced.”

Cybertruck’s Bed Vault is raccoon proof :raccoon:

(Via CTOC u/ Spidog) pic.twitter.com/gcTOiwqhN7

— Nic Cruz Patane (@niccruzpatane) July 12, 2024 Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Humor; Outdoors; Pets/Animals
KEYWORDS: automotive; cybertruck; tesla
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1 posted on 08/07/2024 8:39:02 AM PDT by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger

nice lookin racoons

the vehicle looks like sheit


2 posted on 08/07/2024 8:43:25 AM PDT by faithhopecharity ("Politicians aren't born, they're excreted." Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 to 43 BCE))
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To: Red Badger

“And Wyoming Auto Experts Agree”

I always go to the auto shop when I have problems with raccoons


3 posted on 08/07/2024 8:45:26 AM PDT by TexasGator
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To: Red Badger

There’s a video review out there by YouTube-er Scotty Kilmer. As with most of his stuff it’s hilarious. That vehicle is a poorly built POS.


4 posted on 08/07/2024 8:45:50 AM PDT by katana
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To: Red Badger

That piece of tech crappola was designed for the pretentious TWOT’s who buy this crappola EV tech but still want to portray some semblance of “manhood” by driving a pickup.

Just laugh. Poking fun at such is waaay past punching down.


5 posted on 08/07/2024 8:47:04 AM PDT by bobbo666
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To: Red Badger

Cyberdumpster?


6 posted on 08/07/2024 8:47:42 AM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: Red Badger

The cyber truck looks like an expensive mistake.

But what’s going on in general, is that a media which told everyone they must buy an electric vehicle has changed its tune.

And that’s because Elon Musk is supporting Donald Trump and criticizing democrats.

Half the articles are about people wanting to sell their Tesla because of Elon’s politics.

In the process, they began reporting the negatives of EV’s. I’ve yet to see such an article that did not use Tesla as the attack point.

Prior to this, most articles even attacked hybrid vehicles because you had to go fully electric.


7 posted on 08/07/2024 8:50:31 AM PDT by Williams (Stop Tolerating The Intolerant)
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To: Red Badger

Raccoons will try to get into just about anything.


8 posted on 08/07/2024 8:52:56 AM PDT by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> --- )
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To: Williams
Half the articles are about people wanting to sell their Tesla because of Elon’s politics.

This is stupid. Elon already has your dough, so selling your Tesla will do nothing to him. I see Teslas on the used car lots all over town now. Nobody wants them..................

9 posted on 08/07/2024 8:53:11 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: Red Badger

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a model get this much attention for delivering 3,907 copies this year. Maybe a Bugatti or such, but a truck?


10 posted on 08/07/2024 8:54:51 AM PDT by SaxxonWoods (Are you ready for Black Lives MAGA? It's coming.)
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To: Red Badger

A 4x6 bed in back is not enough. At $60-80k, if it had the capacity of, say, a five-yard dumpster, it would be the most popular vehicle in my neck o’ the woods.


11 posted on 08/07/2024 8:55:47 AM PDT by Buttons12 (Soap box, jury box, ballot box, cartridge box... Boxcars.)
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To: SaxxonWoods

Ford F150 EVs delivered this year: 9,589.


12 posted on 08/07/2024 8:59:35 AM PDT by SaxxonWoods (Are you ready for Black Lives MAGA? It's coming.)
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To: Red Badger

“Nobody wants them..................”

Best selling car worldwide: Tesla Model Y


13 posted on 08/07/2024 9:00:43 AM PDT by TexasGator
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To: SaxxonWoods

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a model get this much attention for delivering 3,907 copies this year. “

Musk is a genius and is always pushing the limits.


14 posted on 08/07/2024 9:03:21 AM PDT by TexasGator
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To: Red Badger
I really liked the first musk car, but I am afraid the drugs and electro brain stimulation did not work to help him design his first truck


15 posted on 08/07/2024 9:04:29 AM PDT by algore
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To: Red Badger

I’ve seen one of these around NW Tucson. Haven’t seen who drives it.


16 posted on 08/07/2024 9:12:16 AM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: HartleyMBaldwin

There’s one here I see from time to time............


17 posted on 08/07/2024 9:15:40 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: SaxxonWoods

“Ford F150 EVs delivered this year: 9,589.”

Source? Q1 was almost 7800 amid a lengthy stoppage which ended early April.


18 posted on 08/07/2024 9:20:16 AM PDT by TexasGator
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To: Red Badger

Dumbest, ugliest, most overpriced vehicle ever.


19 posted on 08/07/2024 9:21:53 AM PDT by Sicon ("All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." - G. Orwell>)
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To: Red Badger
I didn't mean it should be hauling garbage ...

It should be hauled away AS garbage!

20 posted on 08/07/2024 9:26:24 AM PDT by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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