Crowds booed as a new Banksy artwork – a stretching cat on an empty, dilapidated billboard in northwest London – was removed just hours after it was posted.

The street artist posted a photo of the design without a caption on his Instagram on Saturday. It is the sixth in a series of animal-themed artworks over the past week.

The new Banksy painting appeared on Edgware Road in Cricklewood. Police cordoned off the path in front of the artwork while around 50 people gathered to take photos. They later had to watch as it was removed.

It followed artwork of pelicans appearing to steal fish from the sign of a fish and chip shop that appeared in Walthamstow, north-east London, on Friday.

Hours after Banksy confirmed in an Instagram post that the design was his own, crowds from across London gathered to see the work before men posing as building contractors arrived.

The billboard was supposed to be taken down on Monday before the artwork appeared.

A contractor who gave his name as Marc said the date had been brought forward in case someone “tears it down and makes it unsafe.”

Marc said the artwork will be returned to their yard to see if anyone will pick it up.

He said: “We will store this part (the artwork) in our garden and see if anyone picks it up. If not, it will go in the container.”

“I was told to keep it safe in case he wants it.”

At the request of the police, a black board was initially used to cover most of the cat on the billboard, which was intended to prevent people from walking in front of traffic on the road.

Removal efforts were briefly halted by police as officers verified that contractors had permission to dismantle the piece before being allowed to proceed with work.

An officer at the scene said the owner of the billboard told police he wanted to donate it to an art gallery.

Ben Tansley, 71, a member of the NorthWestTwo Residents Association, said: “If it wasn’t guarded all night, someone would take it. It’s such a shame.”

The association’s chairwoman, Carol Reeman, 64, added: “This is Cricklewood, this is our Banksy. You can’t even enjoy it for a whole day before someone wants to take it down.”

“You would wait a lifetime for a Banksy to come to your neighbourhood. Cricklewood is on the map.”

The picture is one of many that have been seen in the last week.

On Monday, a stencilled image of a goat appeared at Kew, and on Tuesday the Bristol-based artist unveiled a picture of two elephants touching trunks in Chelsea, although by Friday the image had been daubed with stripes.

Three monkeys hanging from a bridge in Brick Lane drew crowds on Wednesday, and a howling wolf was spotted on a satellite dish in Peckham on Thursday.

When the artwork of two pelicans appeared above the sign of a fish and chip shop in Walthamstow on Friday, a local resident told BBC News: “It’s really exciting.”

“A friend messaged me this morning and told me it had appeared on my street, so we agreed to come over as soon as possible.

“It’s so much fun and so healthy – it’s really nice to see.”

She believed the location, Bonner’s Fish Bar, was significant.

“It’s something of an icon of the area and I’m sure that’s why it was chosen,” she said.

“It’s been here for a long time and is very loved.”

A stencil of a wolf on a satellite dish in Rye Lane, Peckham, published on Thursday was taken down from the roof of a building just hours after it was published.

A video was taken showing two people removing it and carrying it down the street.

The Banksy press team told the BBC they “believed” it had been stolen.

In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said they had received reports of the bowl being stolen, adding that “no arrests have been made” and that “investigations are ongoing.”

The Banksy press team did not want to comment on the possible significance of the stencil series in London.