R.I. Gen. Laws § 20-37-1: Statement of policy.

It is the policy of this state to contribute to the maintenance of a high-quality environment within the state and elsewhere for the benefit of the safety, health, and welfare of its citizens by forbidding the importation, sale, offering for sale, transportation, storage, traffic, ownership, or other possession or use of any dead or live animal or plant or any part of the skin, other tissues, or body, whether raw, manufactured, processed, or preserved, of any species of animal or plant considered by the United States Secretaries of the Interior or Commerce to be under the provisions of the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973, 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.