Animal Education Foundation

Animal Education Foundation (AEF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in the Washington DC metro area, dedicated to improving the lives of companion animals with a particular emphasis on parrots. Our main focuses are behavior, training, and enrichment solutions.

Rationale

The popularity of parrots as companion animals is rapidly growing, as demonstrated by the increasing number of products and services devoted to psittacines, as well as the unfortunate number of rehoming and rehabilitation programs across the country. In an overwhelming majority of cases, the reason for relinquishing a parrot is rooted in problem behavior exhibited by the animal and the caregiver's lack of knowledge in developing and implementing effective solutions. A primary objective of AEF is to help parrots stay in their homes, whenever possible and appropriate, by relying on their caregivers' commitment to learning and applying simple, but highly effective, principles of behavior teaching. These principles are rooted in the science of Applied Behavior Analysis and have been validated experimentally for over 100 years across a multitude of species, including parrots, in a variety of situations. Relying on the universality of ABA principles, AEF is  committed to developing the most positive, least intrusive solutions to behavior problems for all species.

What We Do

Based on these principles, AEF teaches caregivers the skills to address existing problem behaviors and prevent future ones by designing and implementing effective behavior modification strategies. To this end, we offer individual in-home consultations as well as group workshops, classes, and seminars. Profits support animal conservation programs and animal welfare organizations.