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ALAMEDA — An ailing humpback whale continues to linger and splash off the Alameda shoreline, delighting onlookers who hope to catch a glance of it.
They’ve even given the creature a name — “Allie” — and its own Facebook page, where people can offer updates and comments on its activity.
But the humpback, a species that rarely shows up in San Francisco Bay, continues to show signs of distress as it swims off the former Alameda Naval Air Station, now known as Alameda Point.
“It’s not looking good,” Bill Keener, an associate researcher with the Marine Mammal Center of Sausalito, said Monday afternoon. “It’s not improving. That’s for sure.”
The baleen whale lacks a sheen, Keener said, and appears underweight.
It is not known whether the animal is a male or a female.
The humpback was first spotted around May 27 in the waters off what’s known as the Seaplane Lagoon, a place where U.S. Navy amphibious aircraft once taxied in and out of the water. It’s currently a site for a future ferry terminal.
The whale has recently moved closer to where the USS Hornet Sea, Air & Space Museum is docked, which along with some maritime ships, are near the lagoon.
Along with the Marine Mammal Center, officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are monitoring the humpback.
The spring season, which finds hundreds of whales traveling along the West Coast from Mexico to Alaska for feeding, has been harrowing for many marine species, leading the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to declare a wildlife emergency for gray whales.
Anyone who sees other distressed animals in the area, or humans harassing the whale, should call the Marine Mammal Center’s 24-hour hotline at 415-289-SEAL (7325).
