Most young-earth creationists recognize that it is impossible to prevent, before the fall, the death of at least some plants and animals. After all, some animal species cannot live for even a few hours without consuming plants or other animals. Moreover, it would be difficult for elephants to avoid crushing an ant or two or for cows and baboons not to swat an occasional mosquito. How such creationists deal with this problem is to claim that the Bible's definition of life extends only to the higher animals. But this claim is not true.
Many Bible verses assign the capacity to live and to die to plants and lower animals.
The fish in the Nile will die. The frogs died in the houses, in the courtyards, and in the fields. But man dies and is laid away. He killed their fish. Dead flies give perfume a bad smell.