R.I. Gen. Laws § 4-4-24: State rules paramount to local.

Whenever the director of environmental management makes and publishes any regulations concerning the extirpation, cure, or treatment of cattle or other domestic animals infected with, or which have been exposed to any contagious disease, those regulations shall supersede the regulations made by the authorities of the several towns and cities upon that subject, and the operation of those regulations made by those authorities shall be suspended during the time those made by the director are in force.