Explanation by Rakel

Possums the problem.

A possum is a pest that was shipped from Australia to New Zealand
by the early British settlers in 1837. They thought it was a great idea
to ship possums from Australia to New Zealand because they could
get money from making a fur industry to sell their fur for more money.
In my writing, I will be explaining how possums are changing our forest.
Firstly they devour the new growth leaves of our native trees, secondly,
they devour the fruits and flowers, thirdly they eat our native creatures,
and lastly, they devour our native creatures eggs.

First possums are changing our beautiful green forest by eating the
new growth leaves which causes our trees to die including our native
New Zealand trees such as pohutukawa, kauri, rata and also kowhai
and if there are no trees that mean we have no oxygen. 

Secondly, they devour our fruit and flowers which means there will be
less food for our native creatures and insects which they need to
survive on and maybe they might become extinct.

Thirdly they eat our native creatures and insects which means they
cannot pollinate or reduce food supply and they could become extinct.

And lastly, they also eat our native creatures eggs which might cause
them to become extinct and have no more native New Zealand animals, creatures or insects. Because they are growing at a faster rate every year. The more they eat would cause these native birds to extinct.

Possums are destroying our environment by killing our native trees
and creatures, animals and also insects. We need to find a way to help
get rid of this pest from changing our environment. As you can see the
diagram below everything work together but now possums come in and
are disrupting our ecosystem.