Iberian wolf

The Iberian wolf (Canis lupus signatus, or Canis lupus lupus, Spanish and Portuguese: Lobo ibérico), is a subspecies of grey wolf. It inhabits the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, which includes northwestern Spain and northern Portugal. It is home to 2,200-2,700 wolves which have been isolated from mixing with other wolf populations for over a century. They form the largest wolf population in Western Europe.

Due to population controls and damage to livestock, Iberian wolves were, as of September 2021, the only Western European subspecies of wolf whose hunting remained legal, yet only in Spain. Nonetheless, very few hunting permits were given every year, strictly north of the Douro river. Along with the difficulty of their hunt by virtue of their vigilant nature and the rarity of their sightings, they were strongly desired by many European hunters as a big-game trophy.