Animals mistake Tesla Cybertruck for trash

Controversial styling appears to have confused animals looking for a snack inside Elon Musk’s pick-up truck.

The hits just keep coming for Tesla and its controversial leader, Elon Musk.

The Tesla Cybertruck has been a sales flop, in large part because of its radical design that has been compared to an American skip bin – aka a dumpster.

And don’t take our word for it, one Cybertruck owner has posted images on a forum of what appears to be raccoon marks on the tray of his electric ute.

MORE: Car giant puts the brakes on EVs

Tesla's Cybertruck has reportedly been mistaken for a dumpster by racoons. Picture: Supplied

Obvious paw tracks and claw marks are a sign that a hungry raccoon was looking for a meal in what it clearly mistook for a dumpster.

It’s not hard to see why a raccoon might mistake Musk’s ‘masterpiece’ for a garbage bin.

The Cybertruck is not only angular in design, like a dumpster, but also finished in unpainted stainless steel, so of course a raccoon is going to think it’s hiding a buffet of treats inside.

MORE: Analyst urges board to babysit Musk

Tesla's Cybertruck has reportedly been mistaken for a dumpster by racoons. Picture: Supplied

It’s a reminder to any Cybertruck owner who goes camping not to leave any food in the tray of their vehicle, because it’s likely the bears also don’t know the difference between an electric pick-up truck and a dumpster.

Earlier this year photos of a Cybertruck covered in a full-body graphic wrap with the number plate ‘Dumbster’ appeared on social media.

MORE: The new baby buy replacing the pram

A Tesla Cybertruck with a "dumpster" wrap. Picture: Supplied

The green wrap further highlighted the visual similarities between the Tesla and a bin, complete with green slime oozing out of the tray and ‘dumpster rules’ that explained what could and couldn’t be thrown away.

Unfortunately for Cybertruck owners, raccoon attacks and comparisons to dumpsters are the least of their problems since Musk made a controversial move into politics, aligning himself with US President Donald Trump. Tesla vehicles have been vandalised as part of political protests across America and Europe.

(FILES) US President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk speak to the press as they stand next to a Tesla Cybertruck on the South Portico of the White House on March 11, 2025 in Washington, DC. During his time as US President Donald Trump's controversial cost-cutting billionaire adviser, Elon Musk grabbed nearly as much media attention as the US president. With Musk's Tesla car company taking a battering on the stock market and sales dropping sharply, and with vandalism attacks targeting his brand, Musk marshalled Trump behind the wheel of a Model S and in front of a Cybertruck to defend the brand, turning the White House into a Tesla showroom. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP)

Tesla Cybertrucks are now being attacked by,... raccoons who mistake them for dumpsters.

True story. Watch: pic.twitter.com/uQSa1yxDay

— Roshan Rinaldi (@Roshan_Rinaldi) November 22, 2024

It only adds to Tesla’s troubles that have seen the Cybertruck become an unequivocal sales flop. The latest sales data from Tesla, released last week, showed a 13.5 per cent decline in EV deliveries around the world between April and June.

That’s the biggest decline, year-on-year, in the American company’s history.

Tesla doesn’t reveal individual sales numbers for its vehicles, instead splitting them into two categories – its popular Model 3 and Model Y and ‘other’ to account for the Cybertruck and the larger Model S and Model X sedan and SUV.

However, of those three ‘other’ models, Tesla only sold 10,400 globally, which means even if the Cybertruck accounted for 100 per cent of that volume, that’s still a long way short of Musk’s original projections that it would sell more than 250,000 examples.

But that’s probably not too surprising when it’s meant to be bulletproof but infamously the glass shattered when Musk threw a metal ball at the window at its official unveiling, and now it appears vulnerable to small mammals.

Originally published as Animals mistake Tesla Cybertruck for trash