Prelapsarian carnivores

In a discussion of NT Wright’s new book on evil, the question of pre-fall carnivores came up. Both Wright and his respondent basically agreed that animals killed and ate other animals before the fall, and that this was not incompatible with Yahweh’s judgment that this was “very good.” But both also emphasized that this was part of the immaturity of the original creation. That’s as good a way as I’ve heard to make sense of the biblical data: Animals were created to kill and eat one another; that’s good, but it’s not best.