There is a school of thought that death does not occur even in the animal world until Adam commits Original Sin. Genesis 3:17b and Romans 8:22 are summoned for oblique support, but essentially this idea of no death in the animal kingdom before Adam hinges on their interpretation of about one half of one verse in Romans.

Citing Romans 5:12, Henry Morris explains that death entered into the world only when sin came by man. And, he continues:

... it is as obvious as anything could be that the fossil record
now found in the sedimentary rocks of the earth's crust could
only have been formed sometime after man sinned.

There are at least two reasons that death was not dealt to the animal world through Adam's fall. First, the fossil record is replete with over half a billion years worth of animal death. That predates Adam by a wide margin. The second reason is that animals do not belong in the same world as man, attested to by the Bible writers themselves.

Notice that Morris did not use the entire verse. He stopped in mid-sentence, in fact. This is what follows the semi-colon. Romans 5:12b: "and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." So the Bible tells us, "as obvious as anything could be, who or what is affected by sin - men, not animals.

Additional clarification can be found in the following verse. Romans 5:13: "For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law." Who was under the law, men or animals? Did animals tithe, fast, celebrate feasts, honor the Sabbath, keep the commandments, or offer up unblemished sacrifices?

In Romans 4:13: "For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith." Were animals "through the righteousness of faith" to be joint heirs of the world along with the descendants of Abraham?

Adam's sin of disobedience caused death unto all his generations. In addition, the death referred to in this passage more probably refers to spiritual death than physical death. With continued access to the tree of life, Adam would have lived forever despite Original Sin, according to Genesis 3:22.