Another of Banksy's animal-themed artworks was stolen in London only hours after it was unveiled. The piece, which featured a stencil of a wolf howling towards the sky, was painted on what
appeared to be a satellite dish atop a building on Rye Lane in Peckham, southeast London.
This artwork was the fourth in a series of new pieces that Banksy has created across various locations in the capital this week.
Banksy, the elusive street artist from Bristol whose identity remains a mystery, shared several photos of this latest series on Instagram. The first piece in the series was revealed on Monday near Kew Bridge in southwest London. It depicted a goat standing on a ledge with rocks tumbling beneath it, positioned just above a CCTV camera.
On Tuesday, Banksy unveiled another design: silhouettes of two elephants with their trunks intertwined, painted on blocked-out windows on the side of a house in Chelsea, southwest London.
The third artwork, revealed on Wednesday, featured three monkeys swinging across a bridge on Brick Lane, near Grimsby Street, close to Shoreditch High Street.
Banksy’s social media posts have seemingly confirmed the authenticity of these works. He did not provide captions for the photos, leading to widespread speculation online about their meanings.
Some people have dubbed the collection the "London Zoo" series and have developed various theories to interpret the works. A popular theory circulating on social media suggests that Banksy might be drawing a comparison between recent far-right rioters and zoo animals.
This series is thought to be Banksy’s first public work since his stunt at Glastonbury in June, where a migrant boat created by the artist was crowd-surfed during performances by the Bristol band Idles and rapper Little Simz.
The stunt was criticized by the then Home Secretary, James Cleverly, who described it as "trivializing" the issue of small-boat crossings and called it "vile." In response, Banksy stated that Cleverly’s reaction was "a bit over the top."
In March, Banksy created a mural in north London featuring a bare tree with heavily pruned branches, with green paint sprayed on the wall behind it to simulate leaves. However, the mural was defaced with white paint just days later. Photo by Melsvandermede,, Wikimedia commons.