Karen Dawn was born in the United States and grew up and was schooled in Australia. She studied at the University of NSW ... a science degree with a major in psychology.

Dawn got her first experience working with the media as a news researcher and writer for Australia's national nightly news magazine show "30 Report," on ABC. Dawn moved to New York City and pursued her interest in music throughout the early 1990s as a singer/songwriter. She was a regular at The Bitter End and CBs.

Dawn is an animal rights spokesperson who speaks at the national animal rights conferences and the annual "Taking Action for Animals" conference in Washington DC. She has appeared on major TV networks discussing animal issues and she is a popular speaker at colleges.

Dawn's career in animal rights began in 1999 when she started the DawnWatch.com list serve, which she created to encourage activists to stay in contact with the media.

Dawn was invited to serve on the voting committee for the Genesis Awards a position which she held from 2001-2004. In 2006 she returned to the Genesis Awards voting committee as the print consultant.

Dawn's efforts to gain media coverage during the Katrina Hurricane crisis for the plight of pets and people who loved them were widely recognized. Her piece "Best Friends Need Shelter, Too" was published in The Washington Post and she was subsequently interviewed for a New York Times article about the media coverage of displaced pets during the Katrina aftermath. A year later she participated in an on-air follow-up ... a one-hour program on Washington Post Radio devoted to the Katrina Animal Disaster and what we learned from it with regard to the need for disaster preparedness and policy changes.

Dawn was an official spokesperson for California's Proposition 2, a 2008 election ballot initiative that changed the standards for confining farm animals.

On May 17, 2008, Dawn was presented with the Outstanding Activist for Farm Animals Award. The award was presented at the Farm Sanctuary 2008 Gala by Karen Dawn's friends Emily Deschanel and Rory Freedman.

Pit Bull advocate

Dawn is outspoken in her advocacy for pit bulls but she also fully supports the need for pit bull spay-neuter legislation, even testifying in favor of such a legislation, as long it specifically disallowed any bans of the breed, in a California Senate committee hearing in Sacramento.

Dawn has hosted animal issues talk shows on Houston's Pacifica station, KPFT and on the Los Angeles Pacifica station, KPFK.

Dawn has written opinion pieces published in The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, New York's Newsday and the UK Guardian. She contributed to "Terrorists or Freedom Fighters: Reflections on the Liberation of Animals" a 2004 anthology edited by Steve Best and Anthony Nocella, and to "In Defense of Animals: The Second Wave," edited by Peter Singer.

Dawn's first book, Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way We Treat Animals, was published in May 2008. She promotes animal rights with a fun and friendly image, stating, "There's no reason that animal rights can't be fun and inviting. For heaven's sake...gin's vegan!"

Thanking the Monkey was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the "Best Books of 2008."

Works

• Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way We Treat Animals. Harper Paperbacks, 2008. ISBN 0061351857

Op-Eds

• The choice isn't seals or people. Los Angeles Times. December 4, 2007.
• Tale of a Turkey who Changed Thanksgiving. Washington Post Radio. Aired November 23, 2006.
• Shameful policy caused many pets' deaths. New York Newsday. September 14, 2005.
• Best Friends Need Shelter, Too. Washington Post. September 10, 2005.
• Got milk? You've got problems. Los Angeles Times. August 13, 2005.
• Gandhi's way won't do: Animal rights activists do not want to resort to violence but many see it as the only option. The Guardian. September 6, 2004.
• Commentary; Echoes of Abu Ghraib in Chicken Slaughterhouse. With Peter Singer. Los Angeles Times. July 25, 2004.
• When Slaughter Makes Sense. With Peter Singer. New York Newsday. February 8, 2004.
• Back at the Ranch, a Horror Story. With Peter Singer. Los Angeles Times. December 1, 2003.
• There Should Be No Room for Cruelty to Livestock. With Peter Singer. Los Angeles Times. June 8, 2003.