Snow leopard (Panthera uncia) is the national first-class key protected wildlife in China, and is listed as vulnerable species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The Qilian Mountain is one of areas with the highest population density of snow leopard in China and even the world. Therefore, the scientific protection of the snow leopard in this area is of great significance to the conservation of global snow leopard population. Protective actions for snow leopard and other sympatric species have been more effectively implemented since systematic pilot work was carried out in Qilian Mountain National Park. However, most of the residents in the pilot area of the Qilian Mountain National Park still mainly rely on the traditional husbandry. The continuous increasing of livestock number and grazing activities threaten the survival and reproduction of snow leopards to a certain extent. Snow leopard preys on livestock and results in economic losses of herders, which in turn affects their enthusiasm for snow leopard protection. In the current literatures, local residents have expressed a positive attitude towards protecting the snow leopard, but their enthusiasm for the protection of wildlife could change with alterations of living habits, social culture, the ecological environment and other factors. In order to understand the attitudes of local herders in the Qilian Mountain National Park to snow leopard protection, and to explore the main factors influencing these attitudes, a semi-structured interview surveys and random sampling method were used to the herders of Qilian Mountain National Park. The results showed that:(1) the respondents believed that wolves (n=34, 91.89%) and snow leopards (n=16, 43.24%) were the two most important wild animals threatening livestock; (2) All respondents had a positive attitude towards snow leopard protection; (3) Depredation by wild animals (n=14, 50.00%) and grassland degradation (n=9, 32.14%) were the two major concerns expressed by herders surrounding their livestock; (4) "Snow leopard preys on livestock" and "owning livestock commercial insurance" were the key factors affecting the herders' attitudes towards protecting snow leopard (P<0.05). In addition, the enthusiasm of the respondents for snow leopard protection had no significant correlation with age, occupation or education levels. In order to fundamentally reduce the adverse effects of wild animals and promote the long-term coexistence of humans and wildlife, it is suggested that governments at all levels took the construction of the national park system in China as an opportunity to strengthen scientific research and formulate more reasonable measures for the protection and management of wildlife.