California's wildfire season is almost over, and the damage is all but done -- right? Wrong! Wildlife will continue to suffer loss of life -- and habitat -- long after the flames are put out. Animal casualties are the untold story of wildfires. Forests lose most small mammals and many birds and large animals in wildfires, either succumbing to smoke inhalation or being burned to death. Those animals that do manage to escape have no place to live, because other parts of the forest spared from the flames are already inhabited and cannot support two populations.The massive forest fires we see today in California have no historical precedent and are completely unnatural, the result of human neglect. But it is the creatures living in these areas paying the ultimate price. Luckily there are organizations like Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care and Wild Things, which are working to rescue displaced animals and hoping that catastrophic wildfires will someday be a thing of the past.