Experts Prepare Plan to Capture Ill Orca as Last Alternative

Southern Resident killer whale J50 and her mother, J16, swim off the west coast of Vancouver Island near Port Renfrew, B.C. In this Aug. 7, 2018. Now NOAA Fisheries and its partners are weighing whether to intervene further to help the orca known as J50. Brian Gisborne/Fisheries and Oceans Canada via AP

SEATTLE—Federal biologists said they are preparing a plan to capture and treat a sick on Sept.12, critically endangered orca if there is no other way to save her in the wild.

Officials said they will intervene and rescue the orca only if she becomes stranded or separated from the rest of her tightly knit group of whales.