The silhouette of a howling wolf was the latest in a series of animal images painted by anonymous artist Banksy across London this week.
A new Banksy animal artwork has been stolen by people wearing masks within hours of being unveiled.
The silhouette of a howling wolf, painted on to a satellite dish on the flat roof of a graffiti-covered shuttered building in Rye Lane, Peckham, southeast London, was revealed on Thursday – the fourth in a series of animal images that have popped up across London this week.
Photographs of the artwork, one taken in daylight and one in the evening, were shared on the official Banksy Instagram account.
But not long afterwards, people wearing balaclavas were seen approaching the building with a ladder, before climbing up and removing the dish.
Images taken at the scene show the individuals, one wearing denim shorts and the other dressed in tracksuit bottoms, then walking away with the artwork.
Metropolitan Police said the satellite dish had been reported stolen within hours of being unveiled.
“We were called to reports of a stolen satellite dish containing artwork at 1.52pm on Thursday, 8 August in Rye Lane, Peckham,” the force said. “There have been no arrests. Inquiries continue.”
Confirmed Banksy images have appeared in different locations across the capital every day so far this week.
The first was an ibex goat just above a CCTV camera, which appeared near Kew Green in west London on Monday, followed by a stencil image of two elephants greeting one another from bricked-up windows in Chelsea on Tuesday.
Yesterday, three monkeys appeared swinging from a train bridge over Brick Lane in the east of the city, not far from Shoreditch High Street.
The primates have been associated with the Japanese proverb “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” – although in Banksy’s work they are not covering their eyes, ears or mouths.
