That is their official position, and a hard one it is.

However, it is their protection.

But for their usefulness in partially cleansing these terrible streets, they would not be tolerated long.

They eat any thing and every thing that comes in their way, from melon rinds and spoiled grapes up through all the grades and species of dirt and refuse to their own dead friends and relatives--and yet they are always lean, always hungry, always despondent.

The people are loath to kill them--do not kill them, in fact.