R.I. Gen. Laws § 4-1-40

This is the official text of R.I. Gen. Laws § 4-1-40, part of Rhode Island’s Gen. Laws — part of the compiled statutory law of Rhode Island, published by the state as "Gen. Laws." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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§ 4-1-40. Possession of animals.

Official statutory text

(a) In addition to any other penalty imposed by law, a person convicted of, or who entered a plea of nolo contendere to, any misdemeanor violation under the provisions of this chapter shall not possess or reside with any animal for a period of up to five (5) years following entry of the conviction or upon acceptance of a plea of nolo contendere by the court. Any offense under this subsection is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), by imprisonment for a term not more than one year, or both, and forfeiture of the animal(s).

(b) In addition to any other penalty imposed by law, a person convicted of, or who entered a plea of nolo contendere to, any felony violation under the provisions of this chapter shall not possess or reside with any animal for a period of up to fifteen (15) years following entry of the conviction or upon acceptance of a plea of nolo contendere by the court. Any offense under this subsection is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), by imprisonment for a term not more than one year, or both, and forfeiture of the animal(s).

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.