Top officials at the city’s beleaguered animal pound acknowledged squalid conditions exposed by The Post — but placed the blame on staffing issues during their annual board meeting Tuesday. 

“In terms of the conditions at the shelter, we’ve talked about it, we have definitely had staffing challenges,” said Ellen Curtis, the chief programs officer at the city’s Animal Care Centers, in response to a question about the appalling situation. 

Curtis explained there’s a “significant” number of workers out sick and staff “morale” has been low. 

“It’s hard to be a staff member working when five out of eight members of your team have called out sick or have been quarantined,” Curtis said without denying there’s an issue. 

Another member of the public asked if ACC’s board members have conducted surprise visits to the Brooklyn shelter exposed by The Post and if they’ve created initiatives to improve conditions.

“Those are difficult facilities,” the CEO of ACC Risa Weinstock answered, saying she made a surprise visit to the East New York pound on Saturday. 

“Walking through just reminds you of the challenges under which our staff are working,” she continued. 

“Each visit is always a little different but on Saturday, it was busy, staff were engaged, I think in COVID the big challenge [is]… we have a lot of absences. As you know, if you’re exposed to someone, you don’t have to have COVID to be out of work.” 

The comments follow a Post exposé that revealed neglect and horrific conditions at the shelter that include dogs being left without water for hours on end and filthy cages filled with urine and feces.

But the three whistleblowers who came forward said the conditions have been like that “for years” and haven’t changed amid a staffing crunch. The only thing that has changed since the pandemic and the new articles is volunteers are being asked to clean kennel cages on top of their other duties.

Aside from absences related to the pandemic, the shelter system is facing a “critical” staffing shortage, Weinstock told the other board members. 

“We were at 285 [staff members], now we’re at 228, that is not good, we are really at a critical low,” Weinstock said. 

“We have about 40 positions that are posted and we’re actively looking to fill those positions, we’re not going to get back to 285, we don’t have the funding for that,” the CEO continued, saying the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene yanked back an expected $3 million budgetary enhancement the shelter had planned for. 

Over the last year, the shelter has also seen a dramatic 39 percent reduction in animal intakes, which they attributed to the pandemic, but despite less animals coming in, placement rates are down 2 percent for cats while euthanasia for all pets is up, ACC staff said. 

However, placement for dogs did increase by 1 percent in 2020 compared to 2019.