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Sarasota News Leader February 22, 2013 Page 69 The ants also are harmful to other wildlife, Worms noted, including mice and rabbits. They bite people, too, Worms cautioned, leaving a circle of small incisions that forms a pustule. ���Don���t scratch it!��� he admonished the audience members, ���because that can cause infection.��� The fire ant species on Siesta Key has no known natural predator in the United States, Worms explained. The first of these ants, according to researchers, may have come to the country in soil used as ballast for ships. Reports of the species go back to 1953 in Biloxi, Miss., Worms said, though other reports say the species first was seen in the U.S. in 1944. The ant species has been documented in the Southeastern states, from Tennessee and Georgia to Texas, Worms noted, calling it ���a nasty little bugger.��� The ant nests appear to be concentrated between Beach Accesses 9 and 11, Luckner said, with about 22 nests per acre. The snowy plovers generally nest between Siesta Village and Siesta Public Beach, he added, with most of their nests discovered annually between Access 8 and the public beach. Bob Luckner explains Siesta Key���s fire ant problem during the Feb. 7 meeting of the Siesta Key Association. Photo by Rachel Hackney However, the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast, which manages a conservation easement on the beach, gave its go-ahead for the treatment, Luckner said. Nonetheless, Sarasota County Administrator Randall Reid noted in a discussion with the county commissioners on Feb. 12 that the The area he and Worms propose to treat, county would have to change the terms of the Luckner continued, encompasses 10 to 15 county���s conservation easement agreement to acres, from the property on the beach owned allow the treatment. by the Tivoli by the Sea condominium com- County staff wanted to see the results of the plex, which is located at 625 Beach Road, to initiative before committing to that action, the public beach. Reid added. The area has land belonging to 21 homeown- Additionally, a Feb. 6 memo to the County ers and seven condominium complexes, he commission from Amy Meese, director of added. the county���s Natural Resources Department, When he and Worms approached the Tivoli and Rachel A. Herman, a project scientist in association board, he continued, they were that department, says ���Natural Resources will continue to work with volunteers to monitor told, ���Well, no, thank you.���