She's known as the founder of DawnWatch, author of “Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the way we Treat Animals,” and for numerous newspaper and magazine pieces, as well as for her well-publicized turkey rescues.

[7] 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.

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 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

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

Dawn is an advocate for pit bulls and was featured in a Los Angeles Times front-page story as a "passionate defender" of the breed.

The Los Angeles Times did a spread on that effort, printed on the front page of the California section under the heading "Hold the turkey, please: A vegan Thanksgiving – where the birds are friends, not feast.

The Thanksgiving 2012 coverage from Dawn's local ABC station showed the reporter, Elex Michaelson, petting a turkey and talking about how much they enjoy the human touch.

[20] Dawn has hosted animal issues talk shows on Houston's Pacifica station, KPFT[21] and on the Los Angeles Pacifica station, KPFK,[22] interviewing renowned guests including feminists Gloria Steinem and Catherine MacKinnon, Nobel Prize Laureate JM Coetzee, philosopher Peter Singer, musician Moby, and Whole Foods Market CEO John Mackey.

Dawn has written opinion pieces[23] published in The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, New York's Newsday and the UK Guardian.