I have always interpreted the story of Adam and Eve and the Fall as a poetic way of saying that humans were once like all other animals, until we became aware that some of our actions were good, and others evil. The Garden of Eden represents our life as ordinary animals. We can easily think of features of a world that seems ‘perfect’ to us, such as no one ever getting sick or dying, but we know that in our life on earth, certain unpleasant things are necessary. A child might pick a world where a meal consisted only of dessert, and piles of candy would lie around for between-meal snacks. As adults, we know that that world would not provide sufficient nutrition, and result in really bad teeth.
We have to be careful when making up features of the world of Eden that we don’t apply shortsighted human ideas of perfection. Genesis says that God created man and animals male and female. This clearly indicates that God intended animals to reproduce. Without death, the earth would quickly have become overrun with life. Without genetic change from generation to generation, life would have been unable to adapt to the changing environmental conditions on earth.