Had your cereals? Krishnagar, Feb. 12: Two poultry owners starved nearly 1,500 birds to death in Ranaghat, Nadia, because they could not afford to feed and not sell them. The ban on sale and purchase of poultry birds was in force in Nadia from January 20. The district administration today confirmed that the chickens of Swapan Biswas and Ashish Sikdar of Panikhali village, about 70km from Calcutta, had died not of avian influenza but starvation. Biswas and Sikdar informed the administration last Saturday that most of their chickens had died and the dead ones and some live birds were dumped in septic tanks. The administration had sent samples from the dead birds for post-mortem. "The test, conducted two days ago, revealed that the birds were starved to death,' said district magistrate Onkar Singh Meena. The decision to go for a post-mortem, Meena said, was taken as officials had suspected foul play. "There has been no chicken death even in backyard poultry in the Jugolkishore panchayat area. The deaths in farms that are looked after far more scientifically made us suspicious.' The duo could be charged under the prevention of cruelty to animal act and with misleading the administration, Meena said. They had not provided food to the chickens for a week. If charged under the cruelty to animals act, the two may be jailed for up to a year. The DM said the poultry owners had confessed to their crime in writing and apologised. "I've forwarded their confession letter along with my report to the government. We will do whatever the government recommends.' The deputy director of the animal resource development department in Nadia, Amalendu Haldar, said the poultry owners "should have approached the department, if they were not in a position to feed their chickens'. One of the two men in the dock pleaded innocence. "I've lost about Rs 30,000 since the ban was imposed. How could I feed the chickens? It's not that I did not want to feed them, I did not have the money or energy to look after the birds,' said Biswas.