Phnom Penh, Dec 16 (IANS): Actress-filmmaker Angelina Jolie has been criticised by an animal welfare charity after her children had a "cruel" elephant ride in South East Asia.

Five of the Oscar-winning actress's six children took an elephant ride near the Cambodian city of Angkor Wat during a break in filming of her latest movie, reports femalefirst.co.uk. 

Jolie and her husband, fellow Hollywood star Brad Pitt, are currently in Asia filming "First They Took My Father", which centres on the Khmer Rouge regime.

The move has been blasted by Elephant Asia Rescue and Survival Foundation, who said: "Seriously Angelina Jolie? Are you that uneducated about the brutal methods of taming and exploitation of elephants in tourism in Asia?"

But according to insiders, Jolie was recovering from a stomach bug while minders took the children -- Maddox, 14, Pax, 12, Zaharah, 10, Shiloh, 9, and Knox, 7 -- on the controversial ride.

The source told The Sun newspaper: "She was furious when she found out because she hates animal cruelty."

Angelina, 40, is an outspoken critic of ivory poaching in Africa and is due to direct a film about an elephant protector next year.