Anton’s Show Photo: Chet Hardin

After failing to convince his colleagues on the Common Council that they should take up his cause and pass legislation banning the use of exotic animals for entertainment in Albany, freshman Councilman Anton Konev (left) took to the streets to protest the animal cruelty that he says is routine practice in circuses. On Friday, he joined more than a dozen fellow animal-rights activists in front the Times Union Center to try to spread the word to the thousands of people visiting the Ringling Bros. Circus that the animals are trained through years of strict confinement and discipline, and with rough handling that they argue constitutes abuse.