LIHU'E, Kaua'i — A man whose 20 hunting dogs were found caged or penned and abandoned at a vacant Anahola home in December — three of them dead and the rest severely malnourished and dehydrated—pleaded no contest yesterday to 20 counts of animal cruelty.

Steve A. Cummings, 47, is asking the court to defer acceptance of his no-contest plea. If granted, that would mean his criminal record would be removed after a year without further violations.

Cummings is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 7. As part of the plea agreement, Cummings stipulated that the three dead animals starved to death and that he will surrender the remaining animals to the Kaua'i Humane Society. He also agreed to reimburse the Kaua'i Humane Society $12,150 for the care of the animals.

Prosecutors agreed to drop 20 other counts of animal desertion, in return for the pleas.

Cummings' attorney, Brandon Flores, said the dogs were left without food and water due to miscommunication.

He said Cummings had asked a friend to take care of the animals while Cummings took a trip. Cummings didn't go on the trip but assumed his friend was feeding and watering the dogs. The friend, meanwhile, saw that Cummings had not left and assumed he was caring for them, Flores said.

Flores said the animals were left without care for about two weeks.

Kaua'i Humane Society Director Becky Rhoades, a veterinarian, said she believes they were abandoned for much longer than that, since only a skeleton remained of one of the dogs in a separate wire cage. Another dead dog was also in a wire cage. A third was dead at the end of a chain.

"This is the most blatant case of starvation I have ever witnessed," she said.

The surviving 17 dogs, representing a range of breeds, have been transferred to an approved location in the Kapa'a area owned by a friend of Cummings. Flores said Cummings himself is taking care of them there.

Rhodes said Humane Society officials check on them every few days and they appear to be well-cared-for.

Rhoades said the Humane Society in February had arranged for new homes for all 17 of the dogs, but Cummings at that time refused to give up ownership. Once they are forfeited under the plea agreement, the society will once again begin a search for families to adopt them, she said.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.