I found that part odd. Describing children of poor people as packs of feral dogs is similar to me as to describing children of black people as pack of feral dogs. The only conclusion I can make out is that either people did not interpret it as a negative description of poor people, or that looking down at poor people is more acceptable than in my own culture.

I would be very interested to hear from someone who find the current phrase acceptable but not if the comment had written "black" rather than the word "poor".