Eric Sakach
Senior Law Enforcement Specialist, Animal Rescue Team
Eric Sakach is senior law enforcement specialist for the Animal Rescue Team. He joined The HSUS in 1976 as an investigator and was director of its West Coast Regional Office from 1995-2008.
Over the past 33 years, Sakach has been involved in numerous animal cruelty and animal fighting investigations. His undercover work led to more than 500 arrests and some of the first convictions under the federal Animal Welfare Act.
Sakach has authored and/or assisted in numerous law enforcement investigation manuals and training videos on animal cruelty and animal fighting. He is a qualified expert witness in the courts in the United States and in Canada, and he frequently testifies in legislative hearings on animal cruelty and animal fighting.
A member of the faculty at the California Humane Law Enforcement Academy since 1984 and a POST* course coordinator, Sakach has instructed thousands of humane and law enforcement personnel throughout the United States, Canada, and Brazil.
Sakach has been interviewed as an expert on a wide variety of animal protection issues by journals including Readers Digest, Sports Illustrated, and Police Magazine. In addition to several documentaries, he has appeared on national broadcasts—including "Larry King Live," "Dateline NBC," "National Geographic Television," "Hard Copy," and "Animal Planet"—on animal protection issues.
Other related work
From 1986-1988, Sakach served as a member of the Director's Advisory Committee on the Humane Care and Treatment of Wild Animals for the California Department of Fish & Game and was appointed by Sen. Dan McCorquodale to a special task force on the humane handling of captive wild animals in California in 1989.
He served consecutive terms on the Animal Welfare Committee of the California Veterinary Medical Association, the Disaster Preparedness Committee of the CVMA, the California Council of Companion Animal Advocates, and the California Department of Food and Agriculture Committee on the California Animal Response in Emergency System.
A veteran disaster responder, Sakach served as a reviewer for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for the Animals In Disasters Independent Study Course, and he served as part of The HSUS' disaster response team in the Gulf Coast states during Hurricane Katrina, doing a stint as incident commander in Gonzales, Louisiana.