Source: http://womeninhistory.wikispaces.com/

Coco and Pucker were just baby gorillas when they became orphans as they were taken away from their families to become exhibits at the Cologne Zoological Garden. This decision by the authorities resulted in 20 mountain gorillas killed, just for the sake of capturing the two baby gorillas.

Dian Fossey were tasked by the authorities to nurse Coco and Pucker back to health so that they could be sold back to the zoo. Fossey tried her very best to prevent this from happening, but these gorillas’ fate were fixed. Fossey managed to nurse them back to health with the help of her pet dog, Cindy. She gave them constant love and was even their playmates! However, Coco and Pucker were eventually taken away from her, in crates, to the zoo. Quoted from Gorillas in the Mist by Fossey herself, “There was no pain to describe the pain of their loss, even now, more than a decade later.”

Coco and Pucker died in 1978, in the Cologne Zoo, within a month of each other. They lived for 9 years in captivity.