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Banksy’s latest animal-themed artwork has been stolen from London just hours after it went on display, the Guardian reported.

The latest piece is a stencil of a wolf howling towards the sky, painted on what appears to be a satellite dish on top of a building on Rye Lane in Peckham, south-east London.

It was the fourth in his new collection of works, which have cropped up at different locations across the capital this week.

The Bristol-based street artist, whose identity remains unknown, has posted several photos of the new series on Instagram. The first in the series, which he revealed on Monday, is near Kew Bridge in south-west London and shows a goat perched on a ledge with rocks falling down below it, just above where a CCTV camera is pointed.

On Tuesday, the artist added another design to the collection: silhouettes of two elephants with their trunks reaching towards each other from blocked-out windows on the side of a house in Chelsea, south-west London.

The third animal-themed artwork in London showcased a trio of monkeys swinging across a bridge on Brick Lane and was revealed on Wednesday near Grimsby Street, not far from Shoreditch High Street.

Banksy’s social media posts appeared to confirm the pieces as genuine. He did not caption any of the photos, a decision which has fuelled online speculation about their meaning.

Some have called the collection the “London zoo” series and developed theories to explain their meaning. One popular idea circulating on social media is that Banksy could be comparing the recent far-right rioters to zoo animals.

This series is believed to be his first public work since a stunt at Glastonbury in June when a migrant boat created by the artist was crowd-surfed during performances by the Bristol band Idles and the rapper Little Simz.

The stunt was described by the then home secretary, James Cleverly, as “trivialising” small-boats crossings and “vile”, but the artist said Cleverly’s reaction had been “a bit over the top”.

In March, Banksy created a tree mural in north London, featuring a heavily pruned bare tree with green paint sprayed on the wall behind it to give the appearance of leaves. The mural was defaced with white paint days later.