R.I. Gen. Laws § 4-16-2: Notice and publication of estrays.

The city or town clerk shall give three (3) notices, attested under his or her hand, setting forth the natural and artificial marks of the animal, one of which notices he or she shall cause to be set up in a public place in the city or town and the other two (2) notices in public places in the several adjoining cities or towns in the state, and also cause the notices to be published in one of the newspapers published in the several adjoining cities or towns to that in which the estray was found.