Activists who became a political target have sparked a government probe of slaughterhouses

Warning: This story contains distressing content about the slaughter of animals. It also includes images that show blood.

The meatworker has the stun gun poised but the sheep is too quick.

It jumps right into the kill zone, where it slips over on the blood of other sheep, whose carcasses hang nearby.

The slaughterer looks at the fully conscious animal then plunges his knife twice into its hindquarters.

The distressed sheep somehow scrambles to its feet but is held in place by other meatworkers as the slaughterer sharpens his blade.

He pulls the sheep into a headlock, wrestles it onto its back, and starts hacking at its neck.