Banksy artwork featuring howling wolf on satellite dish removed just minutes after unveiling in Peckham

The artwork's removal happened less than an hour after the graffiti artist posted a photo of it on Instagram. The wolf piece is part of a new series of animal-themed works that the elusive artist has been unveiling across London, including a goat near Kew Bridge and elephants near Chelsea.

One witness, Tom Kellow, who lives in the area, said he had gone to see the artwork during his lunch break but arrived just as it was being stolen. He said: "I was walking down around 1pm and saw three guys nicking it.”

The men had brought a ladder, with one of them climbing up to remove the dish while the others stood guard. When Kellow began filming, the situation escalated, with one of the men kicking him and another attempting to throw his phone onto the roof. Fortunately, the phone hit a tree and landed back on the ground.

A statement from the Metropolitan Police said: “We were called to reports of a stolen satellite dish containing artwork at 1.52pm on Thursday, 8 August in Rye Lane, Peckham. There have been no arrests. Inquiries continue.”

The Bristol-based artist, whose identity is unknown but widely speculated on, first unveiled his new animal-themed series on Monday with a goat with rocks falling down below it, just above where a CCTV camera is pointed near Kew Bridge in south-west London.

On Tuesday, the artist added another design to the collection: silhouettes of two elephants with their trunks stretched toward each other on the side of a building near Chelsea.

This was followed by a trio of monkeys looking as though they were swinging from underneath a bridge over Brick Lane, near a vintage clothing shop in the popular east London market street, not far from Shoreditch High Street.

The primates have been associated with the Japanese proverb “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”. In Banksy’s work the monkeys are not covering their eyes, ears or mouths. He did not write a caption for any of the photos, posted to his Instagram, which has fuelled speculation online about their meaning.

The work follows a migrant boat created by Banksy, which was crowdsurfed at Glastonbury Festival in June, during performances by Bristol indie punk band Idles and rapper Little Simz. It was described by then-home secretary James Cleverly as “trivialising” small boats crossings and “vile”, but the artist responded saying his reaction was “a bit over the top”.

In March, the artist created a tree mural in north London, which saw a tree cut back with green paint sprayed behind it to give the impression of foliage.

In December the artist posted to his social media to confirm that a traffic stop sign in Peckham, covered with three aircraft said to resemble military drones, had been created by him. Less than an hour after it was confirmed as a genuine installation witnesses saw the artwork being removed by a man with bolt cutters.