Ailing baby whale said spotted off beach

French Riviera sunbathers spotted a days-old baby whale as it circled the waters off a popular beach, French media reported Monday.

The animal, a gray whale measuring about 25 feet long, was first spotted off the Cote d'Azur beach resort of Menton on Saturday, Le Parisien daily reported. It was in obvious distress and not expected to survive long.

Lifeguards have closed waters off the beach to swimmers to keep people from getting too close, Le Parisien reported.

Jean-Pierre Sidois, the director of SOS Grand Bleu, a group that lobbies for marine animals, said he thought the whale was orphaned and scanning the coastline for its missing mother.

The baby "goes and comes near the rocks, which are the same color as its mother," he said. He added the animal's mother had likely been hit by a ship _ the main cause of death for whales in the Mediterranean Sea.

The whale is probably no more than 12 days old, Sidois said. Without its mother, the nursing baby _ which needs some 24 gallons of milk per day _ will likely die of starvation within days, he said.

"There is nothing we can do now," Sidois said.