The Colegio de Veterinarios de Ciudad Real turned its annual Festival for San Francisco de Asís into more than a ceremony of badges and applause. It became, for a few hours, a meeting point for the profession across the province and a public stage for complaints that have been building in silence.
The gathering brought together Francisco Cañizares, Francisco José García and Amparo Bremard, along with the presidents of the Colegio de Médicos and the Colegio de Enfermería. It also recognized new members entering professional practice in the province and paid tribute to veterinarians who retired during the last year, while families followed the lighter side of the day through the I Concurso de Gachas del Colegio de Ciudad Real.
Mercedes Caballero put the sharper edge on the celebration. She said the profession needs answers and real solutions to problems that are already shaping daily work, pointing to the Real Decreto del Medicamento Veterinario and the figure of the cazador formado as pressures that have practical consequences. Her message was not limited to regulation. She said many colleagues are under strain and that the college must push for effective measures against work stress, professional exhaustion, burnout and mental health problems.
That is what gave the Festival its weight. The event was still a confraternity gathering, and it still had the warmth of an institutional family reunion, but it also exposed how thin the line has become between celebration and complaint. The profession was being honored in public at the same time it was asking to be heard in public.
Caballero also defended veterinary medicine as essential and irreplaceable for animal welfare, food safety and global public health. That argument framed the rest of the day: badges for those starting out, diplomas and checks for the Premios Mejía Merlo winners, and recognition for those leaving practice after years of service. In that setting, the gachas contest won by the team led by Gema Morcillo Antón after a close vote was more than a side event. It was the human detail that kept the day from feeling like a formal list of honors.
What comes next is the real test. The college has already used a festive day to put the profession’s grievances on record; now it has to show whether those complaints lead to any answer at all. For veterinarians in Ciudad Real, the question is no longer whether the pressure exists. It is whether the institutions that heard it will move beyond applause.
