Definitely cruel. I hadn't thought about the weight much,  but I know the elephants are usually beaten to compel obedience. When I was around ten my family was in India and one of the things we did was go on an elephant ride. The 'driver' would whack the elephant in the ear with this curved hook/scythe thing whenever it wasn't doing what he wanted. I remember wanting to use the tool on him to explain why it wasn't a nice thing to do.