The Monday, April 20 Los Angeles Times had a delightful article on its front page headed, "It's her job to raise a squawk; A hero to chickens after Prop. 2, Jennifer Fearing took an 80% pay cut to become the Humane Society's Sacramento lobbyist."

The profile piece, by Eric Baily, discusses the unusual career path of Jennifer Fearing, who went from being teenage president of the Amy Grant fan club, to Harvard Graduate, to sensationally paid consultant and then into the animal protection world.

You'll find the article on line at
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-humane20-2009apr20,0,7749261.story

It offers a great opportunity for supportive letters to the editor discussing the importance of animal advocacy. Those letters can keep the topic alive in the paper, on the editorial page, and will let editors know that readers are interested in such matters, which makes it more likely that we will see similar positive coverage in the future.

The Los Angeles Times takes letters at letters@latimes.com

Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Remember that shorter letters are more likely to be published.

Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn

(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)

Please go to www.ThankingtheMonkey.com to read reviews and see a fun celeb-studded video and an NBC news piece on Karen Dawn's new book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals," which was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the "Best Books of 2008."