I've never been a major fan of bear grottoes as there are some truly horrid ones still in use that are all bare cement and they offer little to the imagination. This Andean Bear habitat is lush and it provides an excellent environment for the bears. Naturally it could be improved for visitors via filling in the moat and utilizing glass viewing windows, but as far as grottoes go this is a decent one.
This photo doesn't even make it look like a grotto. Is there much more room to the left of frame? And is the moat accessible to the bears? There is a branch in the middle of the picture that looks like it's going down to allow the bears to access the moat. If that's that case then filling it in wouldn't give them much more room.
On a side note Snow Leopard, you have a real skill for rekindling interest in little appreciated zoos. I've just looked up the map and the zoo is a lot bigger than I would have expected. Thank you
@PAT: The photo probably shows 80% of the exhibit, and I believe that the bears can access the lower reaches of their enclosure. I really have grown to appreciate smaller, notable zoos and on my last road trip of 50 zoos in 50 days I visited a bunch of fairly tiny facilities. El Paso Zoo is quite good and it has some very nice exhibits, and along with Caldwell and Cameron Park forms a trio of smaller Texas establishments that I'd highly recommend. The upcoming $50 million in improvements will make El Paso a must-see for any zoo enthusiast and attendance is projected to rise from 300,000/350,000 a year to 600,000 over the next decade.
