Three dogs have been seized after they were left in a sweltering hot car for an hour, Victoria police say.

Victoria Animal Control was notified that the animals were in a parked vehicle at Victoria’s Mayfair Mall at around 3 p.m. Wednesday.

They were sitting in direct sun with only one window slightly open, police later tweeted.

Witness Thomas Mosig said he noticed the animals in the vehicle parked beside him and notified mall security.

“I was probably out here for an hour. The dogs were probably in there for an hour,” he said.

He said he saw a small Chihuahua, a medium-sized dog and a bigger dog in the vehicle with the passenger side window open about a foot.

“The little dog seemed to be panting a lot,” he said. “They paged the person twice and they didn’t come out, and that’s when animal control and the cops were notified.”

Police said the temperature inside the car at the time was higher than 50 degrees, as outdoor temperatures in the Capital region hovered around 27 degrees.

Officers opened the car doors to rescue the dogs and said even after 10 minutes with all of the doors open, the temperature inside the vehicle was still higher than 50 degrees.

The dogs were taken to animal control headquarters and given cool water to drink. None of the animals suffered injuries, animal control said.

Mosig said the dogs’ owner was upset when she found out the animal has been seized, and claimed she left ice water in the vehicle for them in addition to cracking the window.

“She said there was water in the vehicle and all that,” Mosig said. “We couldn’t find the water.”

The owner attended the pound and is in the process of reclaiming the dogs, according to animal control.