Seriously - this isn't a grotto. It's actually a very nice wooded paddock (though I think perhaps a little small? Hard to say without an animal for scale).
It just happens to have a wall at the back and a moat at the front. This does not a grotto make.
Since you conceded that my bear pits labelling is accurate, I think that I can safely concede that the lions and Amur tigers (including one "golden tiger") at the Buffalo Zoo do not live in grottoes. Moated enclosures, and not terrible ones by any means, but perhaps not true grottoes.
It was more lush a few months ago. I didn't know if they did it to have a natural look, but to me it just looked like lack of proper landscaping. The exhibit houses 3 lions and a golden tiger. It's a decent sized enclosure in my opinion.
