Remember When Thousand of Bugs Invaded the Mall of America?

It wasn't all that long ago that Minnesota's Mall of America was inundated with thousands of these bugs!

In fact, it was just a little over a year ago that thousands of bugs descended on MOA in Bloomington. But it was an infestation they didn't welcome; there was no frantic calls placed to pest removal companies.

That's because they were ladybugs that were released into the mall-- on purpose, as part of an Earth Day celebration. So what's up the all the bugs? Well, according to this KARE-11 story, the ladybugs act as goodwill ambassadors at  MOA and actually help maintain the plants throughout the mall-- without using pesticides.

Last year's Earth Day release at Nickelodeon Universe involved roughly 75,000 ladybugs, and is part of a tradition that dates back 27 years to when the Mall first opened in 1992. The story quoted Jill Renslow, a senior VP of development at the Mall who explained that the bugs have an important purpose.

"We do it a few times a year based upon when we need it. The ladybugs work as a natural pesticide for our 30,000 plants inside MOA," Renslow said in the story. So, yeah, bugs invaded MOA, alright-- but it was a good thing!

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