New Mexico Wildlife Center in Española adds handheld ultrasound, expands regional diagnostics

The New Mexico Wildlife Center in Española added a handheld, wireless ultrasound to its wildlife hospital after receiving grants and community donations, including a $10,000 award from a Donor-Advised Fund of the Foxwynd Foundation to support hospital operations. Staff finished training on the device and have already performed ultrasounds on two patients, including owls with eye injuries, and used the unit on a crow in a press release photo showing rehabilitators Lizz Kendall, Libby Bukovec and Caroline Cohen operating the device.

The Foxwynd Foundation grant was described by the center as seed money to purchase the portable ultrasound and to keep hospital facilities and medical technology up-to-date. The grant also covers everyday necessities the hospital depends on, such as animal food and dietary supplements, diagnostic testing kits, and non-durable medical and surgical supplies, enabling the center to maintain day-to-day capacity while adding new diagnostic tools.

Dr. Ashley Kramer, NMWC’s veterinarian, framed the clinical value of the unit: “We are incredibly excited and grateful to add an ultrasound to our diagnostic toolkit. This equipment will play a vital role in the care and treatment of both our wildlife rehabilitation patients and our resident ambassador animals. Ultrasound is a safe, fast, portable, and low-stress imaging tool that allows us to evaluate internal structures that cannot be adequately assessed with our current x-ray system.”

NMWC has operated for over 40 years and reported admitting more than 1,000 wildlife patients of 160 different species in 2025. Dr. Kramer said: “So, I lead a team of three staff rehabilitators, and we get about a thousand animals a year.” The center treats a wide array of species, including raptors such as red-tailed hawks and great horned owls, making soft-tissue imaging an operational priority that X-rays alone cannot meet.

Clinical integration was immediate. Kramer told KRQE that staff “finished training on the ultrasound this week and have been able to put the tools to good use. We were so excited that we grabbed two patients and already have done two ultrasounds, even though we just got the training on it. So we checked on some of our owls that have eye injuries.” The press release photo and caption document use of the hand-held unit on a crow patient by Kendall, Bukovec and Cohen during that early phase of adoption.

Community funding played a visible role in the purchase. An Instagram post from the organization said, “Thanks to generous donors and grants, including $10,000 from the Foxwynd Foundation, NMWC's wildlife hospital has a new portable ultrasound.” A KRQE article quoted a person named Miller saying, “Recently, we’ve gotten funding for an ultrasound unit for the hospital.” Miller’s role was not specified in the KRQE excerpt.

Adding the ultrasound is a strategic upgrade for the Española hospital because it allows faster, lower-stress, real-time assessment of internal injuries and illnesses and supports both rehabilitation patients and resident ambassador animals. With more than 1,000 admissions a year and a broad species mix, the new device and the Foxwynd grant aim to improve diagnostic speed and treatment decisions while keeping routine hospital supplies stocked for ongoing operations.