HELENA -- Saying brucellosis ''does not belong in our future,'' the superintendent of Yellowstone National Park pledged to work with Montana's Board of Livestock Monday to eradicate the disease.

Yet Suzanne Lewis, Yellowstone's leader, also said the issue is complicated and does not boil down to "livestock versus wildlife.'' Lewis said all sides, from ranchers and conservationists, need to stake out common ground and abandon the rhetorice surrounding the disease to make any kind of progress.

"Just as wildlife is not more important than livestock, livestock is not more important than wildlifle,'' she said.

Lewis' remarks came a month after a second case of brucellosis appeared in Montana livestock near the park. That has cost Montana's its official brucellosis-free status, which will cause ranchers to test all cattle leaving the state.

Brucellosis is a disease of cattle, bison and elk. It causes cows to abort calves. The disease has largely been eliminated from the American cattle herd, but remains in bison and elk in and around the park.

The disease was spread to wildlife from domesticated cattle.