A new Banksy animal artwork has been taken away 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, two people wearing balaclavas were seen approaching the building with a ladder, before climbing up and removing the dish.

Photos show the individuals, one wearing denim shorts and the other dressed in tracksuit bottoms, then walking away with the artwork.

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.

Banksy often leaves months between different artworks. With one posted every day so far this week, there has been much speculation about the meaning behind the animals.

The anonymous artist has not captioned any of the photos shared, adding to the mystery.

He also made headlines in June when he released a migrant boat installation over the crowd at Glastonbury during performances by Idles and Little Simz.

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The Bristol artist was also behind a mural in north London in March, where green paint was sprayed behind a bare tree to mimic the foliage.

In December, he confirmed a traffic stop sign covered with three aircraft said to resemble military drones, also in Peckham, had been created by him.

Less than an hour later, witnesses saw the artwork being removed by a man with bolt cutters.

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