BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — In celebration of Earth Day, the largest mall in the country "released the bugs!"
Every spring, the Mall of America releases thousands of ladybugs into the plants throughout its 5.6 million-square-foot space.
MOA has been using this natural method of pest control for its live plants since it opened in 1992.
"This year, we had the largest ladybug release to date — a whopping 144,000 ladybugs found new homes among our unique collection of plants, ranging from an orange tree to a pineapple plant," according to the news release.
Mall officials said the ladybug release event began at 6 a.m. Monday at Nickelodeon Universe, a 7-acre indoor theme park.
For the first time, the mall invited the public to the release and hundreds of people signed up to disperse the red and black critters.
The mall has 30,000 live plants and trees throughout its confines.
WATCH MORE ON KARE 11+
Download the free KARE 11+ app for Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV and other smart TV platforms to watch more from KARE 11 anytime! The KARE 11+ app includes live streams of all of KARE 11's newscasts. You'll also find on-demand replays of newscasts; the latest from KARE 11 Investigates, Breaking the News and the Land of 10,000 Stories; exclusive programs like Verify and HeartThreads; and Minnesota sports talk from our partners at Locked On Minnesota.
- Add KARE 11+ on Roku here or by searching for KARE 11 in the Roku Channel Store.
- Add KARE 11+ on Fire TV here or by searching for KARE 11 in the Amazon App Store.
- Learn more about the KARE 11+ app for Apple TV in the Apple App Store.
- Learn more about KARE 11+ here.
Watch more local news:
Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities and across Minnesota in our YouTube playlist: