He’s a Real Stick-in-the-Mud : Animal kingdom: Humphrey the whale remains mired in San Francisco Bay, despite all-night efforts by rescuers to free the wayward humpback.

Humphrey the wayward whale, in trouble in Northern California’s waters for the second time in five years, rested early today as marine biologists circled his muddy bed in San Francisco Bay and pronounced him healthy but hopelessly stuck.

Humphrey became mired after apparently breaking away from other whales traveling along the coast and wandering into the bay looking for herring, according to whale researcher Kenneth Balcomb.

“Humphrey has a different way,” Balcomb said. “He is always odd man out.”

Would-be rescuers spent the night dousing the 30-foot, 40-ton sea mammal with water to keep his exposed skin wet, but their repeated efforts to pry him from the mud where he stranded himself were unsuccessful. Even the morning high tide failed to float him.

The endangered humpback whale captured the attention of the world five years ago when he got lost and wandered through Northern California’s inland waterways for three weeks.

Humphrey was spotted again Monday, stranded on the mud flats in 2 1/2 feet of water in San Francisco Bay--a sight that created a traffic jam of leviathan proportions as motorists on the shoreline roadways slowed and gawked at the beached giant.

A blood test Monday night showed Humphrey was healthy, though biologists feared that if he is not freed soon, his weight could fatally crush his organs.

A team of 18 rescuers in wet suits--including a veterinarian, at least two biologists, a medical staff and volunteers from the California Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito--worked through the night trying to free Humphrey, said Denize Springer, a spokeswoman for the center.

Peigin Barrett of the center said rescue workers teased and prodded Humphrey, even covering his blow hole to irritate him into action. It didn’t work.

High tide came in at about 2 a.m. today, and rescuers tried to help it with 12-foot-long 2-by-6-foot boards, trying to pry Humphrey from the mud while a boat attempted to tug the whale into deeper water using a tow line.

But Humphrey “didn’t cooperate,” Springer said. “Usually, when an animal is trapped, it will cooperate to get out. He didn’t.”

The rescue effort was finally called off about 6 a.m. when it became apparent that it wasn’t going to work, she said.

“The rescue workers are now regrouping and looking into heavy equipment, like a crane,” she said.

Humphrey was stranded in a narrow, shallow mud flat inaccessible to deep-draft boats. A Coast Guard cutter could only get within a quarter-mile of him.