Possums in

New Zealand

Possums are not native to New Zealand. They were taken there from Australia by European settlers who wanted to be able to trade animal furs.

Today, if you drive through some parts of New Zealand, you can see lots of dead possums on the sides of the roads. There are so many that lots are killed by cars during the night.

You can also see large patches of forest that have nude branches. All of the leaves have been eaten by possums. Possums like to eat New Zealand's plants because they are softer and easier to digest than the hard plants of Australia.

Possums also cause a lot of damage to the fruit orchards of New Zealand. Possums are a huge problem. The fur trade is dead because it is considered too cruel so possum numbers continue to grow.

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