Mama Grizzly Palin's bear hug disturbs experts

In her television show, Sarah Palin casts herself as a can-do superwoman of the natural world. She fishes, hikes across glaciers and preaches "respect for the elements" from a speedboat while clad in a yellow windbreaker.

But the programme has already plunged the Mama Grizzly-in-chief into controversy after a conservationist in her adopted home of Alaska accused her of irresponsibility by fishing too close to protected brown bears.

John Toppenberg, director of the Alaska Wildlife Alliance, said scenes in an online trailer for the programme appeared to show the former Republican vice-presidential candidate breaking the rules of Wolverine Creek, a spot where bears - and humans - go to fish. "It's clear from the video that she violated the guidelines," he said, calling her actions "a travesty".

In a preview of Sarah Palin's Alaska, a part nature documentary, part candid camera of her daily life, the former state governor is seen fishing for salmon with husband Todd and family members.

She can be seen apparently holding her rod towards brown bears on the river bank, while the party's boat appears to be closer to the bears than guidelines advise. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game says people in a boat must not fish within 9m of a bear. "It's clearly irresponsible," said Toppenberg. "She is encouraging the violation of important guidelines. Humans can get too close to the bears."

The irony of a right-wing conservative, who boasts of hunting moose and shooting wolves while campaigning for more oil drilling in Alaska, transforming herself into a nature fan for prime time, has not been lost on environmentalists.

Large brown bears gather in Wolverine Creek because the fishing is so easy and the animals have, in the process, become a tourist spectacle.

More than two years after she was plucked by Republican presidential candidate John McCain to be his running mate in the 2008 election, Palin, 46, claims she will run for president in 2012 if "there's no one else".

Meanwhile she has decided to put her family and her home state on show for the nation in Sarah Palin's Alaska. But even a soft-focus programme becomes controversial when Palin is attached to it. Joe Meehan, of the wildlife conservation division of the department, said it appeared that the Palins' boat got within 9m of the bears but not while they were actually feeding.

"Some people may say you shouldn't even try to fish when a bear is in the area and I wouldn't argue with that," he added.

Meehan, who supervises Alaska's wildlife refuge programme, which includes Wolverine Creek, said that while he did not believe Palin had necessarily breached the guidelines, he had concerns over the signal she was sending.

"Fishing in close proximity to bears may, in general, not send an appropriate message to large numbers of people that are not experienced at fishing in bear country," he said. The preview clip also shows a bear jumping into the river near the Palins. Palin recalls dramatically to camera later: "So I'm thinking we are going to get stuck there, the anchor is dropped and there is a bear coming towards us."

But this enraged Toppenberg. "She implies that she is somehow in danger or being brave. That's complete nonsense," he said. The bears at Wolverine Creek were used to people and boats. "But the guidelines are there for a reason."Observer