A South African animal rights group has accused an elephant park of cruelty after video footage emerged showing harsh training methods being used on baby elephants.

"The footage shows elephant calves and juvenile elephants being chained, roped and stretched, shocked with electric cattle prods and hit with bull hooks," the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said in a written statement on Tuesday.

This was done to break the animals' spirit so that they would obey humans, it said.

"The elephants show signs of crippling injuries with severely swollen legs and feet, debilitating abscesses and wounds," inspector Wendy Willson of the National Council of SPCAs was quoted as saying.

The video was taken on the premises of Elephants of Eden in Eastern Cape province, where they were being trained for people to ride on safaris, she said.

"The calculated and premeditated cruelty of this nature that took place at this facility is a far cry from the loving sanctuary image that Elephants of Eden/Knysna Elephant Park like to portray," Willson said.

The SPCA said it filed cruelty charges with the police against Elephants of Eden and the Knysna Elephant Park, along with their directors and management.

If the case is brought to court and the directors and managers are convicted, they could face sentences of up to three years in prison on each charge and lose all their elephants, Willson told AFP.

"Due to the size, intelligence and nature of elephants, training most often takes place through domination and the breaking of the elephant's spirit," she said in the statement.

"In order to dominate or force one's will onto an animal such as the elephant, force needs to be applied, and thus is a recipe for abuse.

"The captive elephant interaction industry is a form of tourism driven by greed and without any conservation benefit," she said.

A growing number of people in South Africa and around the world have been injured or killed as a result of the rebellion of trained elephants kept in captivity, the statement said.

"Elephants of Eden and the Knysna Elephant Park are no exceptions - at these facilities two elephant handlers have been killed and others have been seriously injured," it said.

The SPCA was initially denied access to the park for an inspection and had to call for assistance from the police, the SPCA said.