Banksy’s latest animal-themed street artwork has been stolen from a street in the British capital just minutes after it was put on public display.
The latest work, a stencil of a wolf howling into the sky, was painted on a satellite dish on top of a building on Rye Lane in Peckham, south-east London. It is the fourth work in his new collection, which has appeared in various locations across the capital this week.
An eyewitness captured the offence on camera. The footage shows the three men climbing onto the roof where the plate was located, removing it and fleeing in an unknown direction. A fan of Banksy’s work who came to see the work said:
They saw me filming and got a bit angry. One kicked me in the side and another tried to drop my phone on the roof.
The Bristol-based street artist, whose identity remains unknown, posted several photos from the new series on Instagram. The first work in the series, which he revealed on Monday, is from near Kew Bridge in south-west London. It shows a goat sitting on a ledge from which rocks are falling, just above where the CCTV camera is pointed.
The artist added another drawing to the collection on Tuesday: silhouettes of two elephants with trunks reaching for each other from closed windows on the side of a house in Chelsea, south-west London. A third animal-themed work in London – a trio of monkeys swinging on a bridge on Brick Lane – appeared on Wednesday near Grimsby Street.
Banksy’s social media posts seemed to confirm the artwork was genuine. He did not caption any of the photos, which has sparked speculation online about their significance.
Some have labelled the collection “London Zoo” and have developed theories to explain their meaning. One popular idea circulating on social media is that Banksy is comparing recent rioters to zoo animals.
The series is believed to be his first public work since a stunt at Glastonbury in June, when a crowd pounced on a migrant boat created by the artist during a performance by Bristol band Idles and rapper Little Simz.
Then Home Secretary James Cleverly called the stunt “trivial” and “disgusting,” but the artist said Cleverly’s reaction was “a bit over the top.”
Banksy created a mural in north London depicting a heavily cropped bare tree with green leaves painted on the wall behind it in March. The mural was covered in white paint a few days later.
