Crowds booed as a new Banksy artwork of a stretching cat on an empty, distressed billboard in north-west London was taken down just hours after being revealed.

The street artist posted a photo of the design on his Instagram on Saturday without any caption, marking the sixth in a series of animal-themed artworks over the last week.

The new Banksy appeared on Edgware Road in Cricklewood, with police taping off the path in front of the artwork as about 50 people gathered to take pictures, before they later saw it removed.

It followed the artwork of pelicans appearing to take fish from a chip shop sign, which emerged on Friday in Walthamstow, north-east London.

Hours after Banksy confirmed the design was his in an Instagram post, crowds gathered from across London to see the piece before men, who said they were contractors, arrived.

The billboard had been due to be taken down on Monday before the artwork appeared.

One contractor, who gave his name as Marc, said the date had been brought forward in case someone “rips it down and leaves it unsafe”.

Marc said the artwork will be brought back to their yard to see if anyone collects it.

He said: “We’ll store that bit [the artwork] in our yard to see if anyone collects it but if not it’ll go in a skip.

“I’ve been told to keep it careful in case he wants it.”

A black board was first used to cover the majority of the cat on the billboard at the request of the police, who wanted to stop people walking in the road in front of traffic.

The removal effort was briefly paused by police as officers checked the contractors were approved to take the piece down before they were allowed to continue with the work.

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

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

Chairwoman of the association, Carol Reeman, 64, added: “This is Cricklewood, this is our Banksy. You can’t even enjoy it for the whole day before someone wanted to take it down.

“You would wait for a lifetime for a Banksy to come into our neighbourhood. Cricklewood’s on the map.”

The image is one of many seen over the past week.

A stencilled image of a goat appeared in Kew on Monday while an image of two elephants touching trunks in Chelsea was revealed by the Bristol-based artist on Tuesday, although on Friday it was seen defaced with stripes.

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

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

“A friend messaged me early this morning telling me it’s appeared on my street so we arranged to come down as soon as we could.

“It’s so fun and wholesome – that’s what’s really nice to see.”

She believed the location, Bonners Fish Bar, was significant.

“It’s a bit of an icon of the area, so I’m sure that’s why it’s been chosen,” she said.

“It’s been here a long time and it’s well loved.”

Thursday’s stencil of a wolf on a satellite dish in Rye Lane, Peckham, was taken down from on top of a building within hours of it being revealed.

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

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

A statement from the Metropolitan Police said it had received reports the dish had been stolen, and said there had been “no arrests” and “inquiries continue”.

The Banksy press team declined to comment about the possible meaning behind the series of stencils in London.