Man who climbs up elephant's trunk to sit on it's back has been labelled cruel

A mahout has been accused of cruelty after he trained an elephant to allow him to climb on to the animal's back - by standing on its TRUNK.

The keeper wanted to replicate a scene from an Indian blockbuster Baahubali where the hero runs up an elephant's trunk onto his back, sources said.

A video shows him tugging on the tusker's ears to allow him to climb up its trunk and on to its back in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of the Indian state Kerala.