A fourth work by Banksy, depicting an animal, a wolf, appeared this afternoon in a district of Peckham, in the southern suburbs of London.

Within an hour it was stolen.

As usual, the famous Bristol-based street artist posted a photo of his latest creation in the early afternoon: a black wolf, painted on a white satellite dish, that appears to be howling at the moon.

But an hour later, eyewitnesses saw at least two masked men climb onto the roof where the satellite dish was located, take it down and take it with them unmolested.

One of them, Tom Kellow, told PA that he saw “three men” who “had a ladder with them”.

One climbed onto the roof and the other two held the ladder.

London police said they had been called to investigate “the theft of a satellite dish containing a work of art» shortly after 14.00 local time.

No arrests have been made so far.

The wolf was the fourth Banksy work to appear in the British capital in as many days, unusual for the enigmatic artist as it usually takes weeks or even months between one of his works.

On Monday, a goat appeared on a wall in Richmond, west London.

The next day, two elephants were sticking their heads out of two windows on the facade of a building in Chelsea. And on Wednesday three monkeys were seen balancing on a railway bridge in Shoreditch, east London.

The fact that Banksy chose to depict animals has led to a number of speculations about their symbolism – some said the artist is talking about the climate crisis, others that he is referring to the war in Gaza or even the Paris Olympics.

Some have questioned whether the works are related to the riots caused by far-right protesters in Britain in the past few days, since Banksy has defended refugees many times in the past.

This is not the first time that someone has stolen Banksy’s works, which are sold for several million euros at auctions.

Last December, a traffic sign on which he had painted three unmanned, fighter aircraft was stolen in broad daylight